Disneyland: Take One

We are HOME!!!!!

Our Disney trip was a lot of fun. We left bright and early Monday morning at 6am. Everett fell right to sleep again and Esella ended up falling asleep around an 7am. We stopped for breakfast around 9am and arrived at our hotel at 12:30! Surprisingly both kids did AWESOME on the ride down. We has been nervous about how Everett would do as he generally hates the car seat, however he did AMAZING and only flipped out the last 1/2 hour or so because he was hungry...and he pooped. Poor guy!

After a quick lunch, diaper changes, and sun screen application...we headed out to board the bus to Disneyland!!!

Waiting for the bus to go to "My Disneyland"

Family self portrait...Ev didn't quite fit in the frame...ha

 Ironically, some friends of ours were ALSO at The Happiest Place on Earth so we met up with them as soon as we arrived. He caught up and watched the parade. Esella LOVED the parade!!! She clapped and sang and danced as each of the floats went by. 

Waiting for the parade to start with Daddy.

I just love her face in this one.

 Here is Uncle Mike with Everett

Uncle Mike, Auntie Abby, Dylan and Everett

Dylan and Esella playing with Uncle Mike

Watching the parade!!
 

Everett enjoying the view from the stroller
 

I LOVE these next ones....Esella watching the parade...
 

 Having a seat in Mickey's House




First time meeting Mickey Mouse. She LOVED him!!!
 

In addition to the parade and meeting Mickey, Esella went on a couple rides. Unfortunately, Esella ended up not being a fan of most of the rides. She kept saying "I no want to be afraid anymore!" Recently she has kinda become afraid of darkness and most of the rides get dark..so she was not a fan. Even after BEGGING to go on the train, she ended up not liking that one either because it went throgh several tunnels. She did LOVE the carousel though! 

So that was Disneyland: Take One. I'll post our further Disney adventures soon! Thanks for stopping by!!!

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Also....Just wanted to post about Peyton, my friend's daughter with terminal cancer. We are raising money to help send her to Disney World. Make A Wish and like organizations do not grant wishes for kids under age three...and we do not know how Peyton will be feeling at that point. So far we have raised over $3600, with the goal being $4500-5000 to pay for airfare, hotel, food, etc. If you would like to donate, you can do so via paypal to prayerforpeyton@hotmail.com. Make sure to make it in Canadian dollars and mark as GIFT. You can read about her story here: Peyton's Caringbridge Site

 

Adventures in Cloth Diapering

I have been wanting to cloth diaper for a while...but I'll be honest...the whole poop thing made me hesitant. Oh and the laundry. Anyone who knows me knows I suck at laundry.

However the more and more I looked into it and talked to my friends who do it...it became clear that cloth is NOT difficult and it saves a LOT of money. Even with the extra water for the laundry, none of my friends who do cloth saw an obvious change in their water or electricity.

And the poop? pretty simple solution...a sweet diaper sprayer that attaches to the toilet! And breast milk poop you can just throw in the wash!

And the best part? Cloth diapers are SUPER CUTE!!!

And no..there are no PINS anymore...there are snaps and Velcro and they are quite simple, really. I mean, there are TONS of different kinds...we are using Pockets...that means the covers have pockets in them that you stuff with absorbent inserts (as you see Everett playing with above). They also make all-in-ones, aka AIO's, that are just like disposable bt are cloth...nothing to insert. Those ones happen to be a little pricey so we are starting with pockets and hope to try some AIO's when we can find a good deal.

In addition to cloth diapering, I have started a new Sunday tradition....

Couponing!!! In an effort to save us some money, I have started couponing. No, not EXTREME couponing (OMG have you SEEN that show!?) but couponing. I will be getting several Sunday Papers every week and clipping the inserts. In addition, I found that many manufacturer websites offer printable coupons either off their site or via email. In addition, you can print coupons off the internet at sites like coupons.com and most stores have coupons you can print online as well (Target, Safeway, CVS). 

Here was my first Sunday's stash...

 I have a binder to keep them organized (in baseball card sheets) by type and by store. This week I saved over $120 dollars between sales, club cards and coupons!

Hopefully between cloth diapering and couponing I can help save our family some mullah. :) 

Well the kiddos are sleeping...then we are going to go visit baby Kyle! Then tomorrow its PACKING DAY!!!! 

The next entry will probably be Disney pictures!

Summer Fun

With the warm weather finally here...the kids and I have been spending quite a bit of time outside. Esella would spend the WHOLE day outside if I let her...and most likely would do it sans clothes. ha. Here are a few pics...

Hi mom!

Jumping in the Jumparoo!

Water table fun

When we aren't outdoors we are busy getting ready for DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!

We leave in three days!!!

He's HERE!!!

Just a quick post to share that Justin's sister Melissa and her husband Chris welcomed a sweet baby boy yesterday afternoon. We are beyond excited...Everett gets to grow up with a buddy just like Esella. Kyle looks just like his big brother CJ but with dark hair. Here are a couple pictures...

For a comparison...here is Big Brother CJ the day he was born...

CJ June 4th 2009

Off to put the kiddos to bed...I'll leave you with a couple pictures from Saturday evening...a little Father's day celebration...

How CUTE is this kid???? He is impossible to photograph...never stops moving. But I got a couple adorable shots of CJ that evening...

 

Hope to post again in the next couple days! Try to stay cool in the summer heat :)

Busy Busy Busy!!!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post! EEeeekkk! We have just been so busy over here. 

Let's see...busy doing what you may ask? We have been going to baby showers, birthday parties, grocery shopping. We have been printing and framing pictures, decorating bedrooms, and researching ways to save $$. We have been playing at the park, eating lunch outside, and getting ready for DISNEYLAND!!!!!

Yes, in less than two weeks we will be off to the Happiest Place in Earth for five glorious days. Our friend will be house sitting so the cats and Ainsley will not be lonely. ;) We are EXCITED!

SO yes, busy we have been. 

CJ's birthday party...

Everett and another E...they are just over a week apart in age.

Papa John tossed all the kiddos in the bounce house...too much fun!!

E and CJ...priceless.

 Hanging out at home...

E put her glasses on Ev...

E sitting on Ev's lap! Ha ha

 Everett had solids for the first time this last weekend! Fresh avocado mixed with breast milk (mmmmmm). He did GREAT! He didn't push it out like most babies do the first time.

First bites!!

hhhmmmmm what IS this??

Ok I can help you daddy!!

See??? I can feed myself!!

I love feeding myself!

 I asked Ellie if she wanted to feed Ev....she VERY quickly climbed into daddy's lap to help...such a great big sister!!

Then we had Ellie's Friend's birthday party as well...a few shots from the party which was at a cool play place in the east bay...

E next to the birthday boy..another E. Ha!

Yes....Ev is 5 months old and Daddy has him standing with a walker...

This train thing was the COOLEST!! You power it with your arms...or have someone push you ;) Esella took turns pushing and being pushed!

Hope you enjoyed the pics...I promise to keep on the blog!! 
 
Happy Wednesday!!!

Happy Friday!

Not much to report today...tonight is MTX night (aka Ice Cream Night...ha) for Esella. We spent the day running errands including dropping off some toys at Melissa's In Laws home for CJ's birthday party (Melissa=Justin's sister...CJ=Her son). CJ will be TWO tomorrow! And Baby Legs (CJ's baby borther/sister) will be joining the family any day now! We can't WAIT!!! (I still say girl!). 

Justin now has a different work sched so he had today off, which was nice. We had lunch at this place in downtown Danville that was YUMMY. 

(UM sidenote....as I type this Esella has just removed her diaper and threw it in the diaper and is now sitting on her potty...)

Anyway.....then we came home and had nap time and how Justin is cooking dinner. Tomorrow is a BUSY day...Esella, Everett and I are headed my friend Audrey's baby shower in the afternoon, then CJ's party in the late afternoon. I am not sure that Esella will even get her nap. But hat is OK, she will be high on cake from the two parties! HA! 

Like I said...nothing too interesting going on. I did buy the things to finish up the Kids room...hopefully I will get to that this week. I also FINALLY ordered prints to hang of the kids...so I am revamping our photo wall too. I have been looking at different blogs for inspiration and I think I know what I want to do...

I don't have any recent pics really....but here are some of my favorites of the two kids together...

counting baby toes. my girl is too sweet for words

This one just....melts my heart.

Everett is thinking "HELP ME!!!"

Again....melts my heart...

aaaaand the moment is OVER. HA!

 Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!