Disney World!

Ever since we returned from vacation, Leon has been asking when we will go to Disney World again, and most of his play has involved reenacting our adventures. At bedtime each night, when asked about his favorite part of the day, he always shares his vacation memories rather than the actual events of the day. The boys is in firm denial that vacation is over.

We had another (not so) awesome night at our house last night, and consequently, I'm going to follow Leon's lead. Sometimes it is just better to pretend you are at Disney World.

We drove to Orlando in one day, leaving at 6:15 a.m. and arriving in our hotel room around 5:45 that night. The kids actually did pretty well with the car trip, but they had a lot of energy when we arrived at our hotel. So much energy that they would not go to bed, especially in a new place. We had planned on going to the Magic Kingdom the next morning, but when they finally passed out after 10:00, we considered changing our plans.

We shouldn't have worried. The next morning I stumbled into the kitchen at 6:11 because I'd heard squeaky little voices. Michael looked at me and smiled as he hugged my legs and exclaimed, "I'm awake, Mom!" All the boys had slept in a separate room from us girls, and apparently Michael woke up Jeff at 5:45 when he looked out the window and asked, "Where's the sun?" He was ready to go!

Because we were staying off property, just getting to the Magic Kingdom was an epic adventure. As Leon will tell you, you have to get in Goldie (our van), then get in the stroller, then "get on the purple bus that says 'Magic Kingdom'," then get back in the stroller to get there. My aunt, who has had an annual pass to Disney World for years, bravely volunteered to help us navigate the park the first day. This was us actually arriving at the Magic Kingdom. She was carrying Ree, Leon and Michael were "back in the stroller," and Natalia was in the sling, which is where she pretty much spent our entire vacation.

The first thing we did inside was meet Mickey and Minnie. This was one of Leon's favorite moments of the whole trip. One of my favorite moments was when Leon told Mickey that he was him for Halloween and Mickey gave Leon a giant, spontaneous hug. Forget Santa. That was an amazing moment for Leon.

My aunt was holding Ree when Ree first spied Cinderella's castle. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. Yes, we were really there!

The kids all LOVED It's a Small World. The first time we rode it, Natalia was sleeping in the sling when we boarded the boats. She woke up about a minute into it and literally had to shake her head in disbelief. Had she really woken up in this crazy world filled with singing, smiling little kids?!? She was ecstatic and started bouncing up and down and clapping her hands.

It's always so funny to see what captures kids' attention. One of the big kids' major highlights of the day was watching a tube of water with bubbles in it while we waited for the Monsters Inc. comedy show.

But truly the best part of the day was that we made it the whole day with no tears. Now that is some Disney magic.

Phone Home?

I have started so many entries (or at least thought about many entries) over the past few weeks, and none have been completed. Things have just been INSANE. Most of the time life with four kids is actually pretty manageable, but right now we have four kids, at Christmas, following vacation, to Disney World. It is a miracle that we are all still alive.

I could share what the past few weeks have been like, but I am pretty confident it will just sound like whining. Yes, the kids have drug me down to their level. So in lieu of whining, I think it is time to start sharing a pic or two a day from vacation. I have a feeling these will be in no particular order.

This is our hotel room, or more specifically, our family's bedroom in a three bedroom villa we shared with my parents and grandmother. It was quite lovely. We were at Mystic Dunes resort, which is only a mile or two from Disney property. Jeff and I slept in the bed that actually looks like bed, with Natalia joining us after midnight. (She actually went to sleep each night in a pack and play. Amazing!) We put the other mattress on the floor for Leon and Michael since they are used to sleeping in toddler beds. And Leon and Michael discovered land line phones. We only have cell phones, and they loved learning about this new toy. I'm not sure the hotel operator felt the same way.

Double Digit Baby

Yesterday, Natalia reached double digits. She was 10 months old! (And we completely forgot to tell her. Oops.) 

At 10 months, she is a cheerful, chatty girl. Her favorite word is "ba" which she first used to identify the dogs. The use of ba then expanded to included babies and, well, anything else she likes. She has recently started saying hi, and she frequently waves and says "Hai" in her cute little voice to everyone she likes, and almost always when they aren't looking. 

She loves watching her brothers and sister and she often crawls after them, parking herself in the middle of the toy room and chewing on one of their toys while she watches them play. She pulls up on everything, but she isn't yet trying to walk, and that is perfectly okay with us. she is crazy enough as a crawler.

She is also more attached to me than ever, spending countless hours in the sling and insisting on co-sleeping, at least after 11:00 p.m. Yesterday we returned from an epic adventure. We spent the last eight days on vacation, and while we were gone we celebrated Leon and Michael's birthday and Thanksgiving. We also attended a family wedding and rehearsal in which Ree was a flower girl. And we did all of this at Disney World. It's been quite the experience, and I have a lot more stories to share. I'm sure it's also a bit mind-blowing when you are less than a year old, even if you have reached double digits.

While I am catching up, I should probably mention Halloween. We actually had a really fun Halloween this year. We started celebrating early with a party at Ree's school the Friday before Halloween. Then the whole family went to a costume party the Saturday before Halloween.

It was rainy and cool (mid-50s) on Halloween night, but that didn't slow down the kids at all. The boys insisted that I dress up (like it was that hard to convince me), so I ran door-to-door with them while Jeff pushed Natalia in the stroller.

This year Ree was definitely the big kid, taking the lead at each house. I guess it would be kinder to say she clearly showed self-confidence rather than saying she almost rudely got in people's faces asking for candy. Leon was close behind, running after her. Michael knew his limitations, and running in the dark in a costume was just not something he was capable of, so he shouted, "Wait for Buzz (Lightyear)!" more than anything. But he never seemed to be sad in asking them to slow down.

My favorite points at the night were just after we visited houses where the owners were handing out M&Ms. After getting their treat buckets filled, the boys would launch into their version of "Eminence Front" by The Who with one saying, "M&Ms front," and the other responding, "It's a put on!"

Birthdays, Part I

I know I've been MIA for awhile. This month has just been everything at once, and things aren't going to slow down until after Thanksgiving. So rather than even attempting to catch up, I will just jump in to our misadventures in the middle.

We celebrated the boys' birthday last night. Technically, I suppose, the celebration started on Thursday. A week ago, when we asked them what they wanted to eat for their birthday dinner, Leon requested breakfast for dinner and Michael wanted a pizza party. As much as they have to share the rest of the time, I didn't want them to have to share on their birthday. Consequently, we ended up with two sets of paper plates, napkins, and cups. But two dinners felt like overkill (at least for one night) so we had bacon and eggs on Thursday and pizza and breadsticks on Friday.

It's crazy how the party came together, and even though it was just our family, with six people and two dogs involved, it did feel like a party. My in-laws visited a couple of months ago and left birthday presents for the boys including a play set of Black and Decker tools. While at a consignment shop getting dress clothes for the kids to wear to a wedding, I stumbled across a workshop to go with the tools. (And I got it for only $18, plus I had a coupon. I am going to be so sad when they get old enough that I have to limit my shopping to new things.) But other than that, we had done nothing to get ready.

So last Saturday morning the whole family set off on an epic shopping adventure to do the weekly shopping, to get ready for their party, to get presents, and to take care of some other errands. Amazingly, Jeff and I were able to split up enough that we were able to sneak all of their presents. The week was crazy, and we didn't get a chance to wrap presents until late Thursday night, and I was pretty fried from staying up til 11:30 a couple of nights this week and getting up at 5:00. So the presents looked pretty sad. No ribbons or bows. I was also out of wrapping paper, and we had few boy bags, so their presents were mostly wrapped in pieces of the Sunday paper.

I shouldn't have worried though. Jeff had the boys play in their room while we set up the workshop and presents in the living room. They came running out like it was Christmas morning, and once they saw the tools and workshop they were done. I had to beg them to open presents. That's so wrong, but the same thing happens at Christmas around here. My kids are happy to just play with one new thing. I am going to enjoy that while it lasts.

After presents, we had to have birthday cake. We didn't have a big, beautiful, professional looking cake. We had something even better. We had cupcakes the kids made. They were hideous to behold, but they tasted good (triple chocolate), and they were so proud of them. The boys, Natalia, and I had baked them Tuesday night while Jeff and Ree were at gymnastics. (Not too surprisingly, the boys took an early bath immediately following that project, and the kitchen and table and mixer and couch needed some scrubbing too.) On Thursday night they set to work after dinner decorating them.

Chef Leon was insistent on an all-chocolate theme, and he artfully arranged chocolate chips on top of his chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Michael mostly ate sprinkles and inadvertently smooshed all the letters on his.

All things considered, it was a great party, and there is more fun to come on their actual birthday.

Leon Play

Even when he is not cooking, Leon remains Mr. Practical when playing pretend. Tonight he was in the bathtub playing with an empty bottle of body wash, the pump that goes with it, and he was muttering to himself.

Spray it all around.
Now use the brush.
Put it back in the closet.
Aaaaand...flush!

He was cleaning the toilet. I can't wait until he is this helpful in real life.

Natalia Randomness

Just a random update on all things Natalia:

On Tuesday Natalia finally figured out how to pull her big booty up to a standing position. By Thursday night she was standing up and pushing toys around just like her brother Leon did when learning to walk.

Lately, Natalia has decided she will only sleep touching me. She used to sleep in her crib some, at least after she ate around 3 or 4am, but over the past week, not so much. It takes some fancy maneuvering for me to get out of bed in the morning. Natalia sleeps between me and the wall which means I am stuck smack in the middle of our full sized bed. I have never been known for my ninja-like skills, so you can imagine the fun I have trying to ease myself out of there wihtout disrupting the princess's covers.

For a long time, Natalia's vocabulary was limited to saying "booba" and "doggie," but over the past few weeks, she has started saying "mama" as well. And she says it lots. The cutest was tonight when I arrived home from work and she excitedly announced my arrival with a "Mama!"

Also, Natalia has been slugging Jeff every time he calls her a cute baby or a cute girl.