Jackpot!

"What should we do tonight?"

That question used to be really easy to answer as a newlywed couple.

Answer: whatever WE want to!

Once you have kids, the question changes to: "What should we do tonight, that will be fun for us and a 3 year old, and a 1 year old, and that will get us home by 7:30 to put the kids to bed?" This question (as most of you know) is a little bit harder to answer.

And, it is a lot harder to answer now that we are in school, and the tag "...and that won't cost a lot of money?" has been added.

Well, so far this month we have hit the jackpot on fun, FREE, and family-friendly activities. Tonight we went to the YMCA's Family Fun Night (free for us as members). Having never been before, we weren't really sure what to expect, but we were really impressed with all of the fun things they had set up for the kids including: a Glow in the Dark Snowball Fight, Campfire Story Time, Toddler Play Zone, Face Painting, Swimming, A Bounce House, Mini Golf, Crafts, and Snacks.

We started at the Bounce House, and then went to the Toddler Play Zone

We then had 6:30 tickets to the Campfire Story time. Hudson kept wandering off of our sleeping bag to try and get a better look at the "fire". (He is the little guy in the stripped shirt standing right in front of the lady.)
After making a quick craft, we headed to one of the gyms to turn in our free smore vouchers (that we picked up at the end of our Campfire Story time), and watched an acrobatics type of show, while eating our gooey treats.
Our final stop of the night was the Face Painting room, where Makenna was just thrilled to get not one but two designs on her cheeks.

A heart on one cheek, and a rainbow on the other, what more could a girl want?

Last weekend we went to a free family night up on campus at the SRSC (Student Recreational Sports Center). Again, we weren't sure what to expect, but ended up having a great time. They had several gyms set up for the family night activities. We headed straight for the Bounce House, which Makenna loved, and then spent a good deal of time in the Toddler Gym, where the kids ran around, played on the gym equipment, and rode around on trikes. We also enjoyed the snacks in the hallway, and ended the night by making a craft; one that Makenna said was the most beautiful picture she had ever made.

They had this AWESOME double trike that the kids loved. They had so much fun on it, that I was tempted (not really) to take it home with me. If anyone knows where to find a trike like this, I'd love to know.

Here is a little video of the double trike in action:

I'm hoping our streak of fun, family-friendly, and FREE activities continues!!

Primary

Today was Makenna's 2nd week going to primary. Last week, she and the other graduating nursery kids were invited up to the front of sacrament meeting to receive a certificate congratulating them on their graduation. Makenna was so excited to get her certificate, and is so excited to be big enough to be in primary.

I, on the other hand, can't believe that she is already old enough to be in primary. She has grown up so much while we have been here in Indiana. John and I have started reading scriptures with Makenna every morning. At first, I think she just wanted to get it over with so that she could watch cartoons, but now she is really enjoying it. The first words out of her mouth every morning are "Mommy, can we go downstairs now to read scriptures?" It always amazes me how much kids love to learn. They really are little sponges.

Sleep

I don't really make New Year's resolutions, but if I did, I think that getting more sleep is always a good place to start. Maybe I need to take a note from Hudson's book, who manages to sleep whenever the need arises.

After eating

At the Homecoming Parade
At the football game
After eating (again)
In the car (always a favorite)
On the floor in the hallway after church
And again after eating...I guess having a full belly makes for a sleepy little guy

Christmas at Disney World Part 3

Our 2nd full day in Florida was a non-Disney day. We spent the morning taking some much needed family photos, which turned out to be quite a hilarious undertaking. When John and his brothers get together, it is pretty much non-stop joking around, which makes for great entertainment for the rest of us. Even the photographers were cracking up during the process.

While we waited waited to have our pictures printed, the kids found a fountain to play in.

Hudson tried to throw one of Makenna's shoes into the fountain, but Grandma CeCe made one amazing save, by batting it into the air about 4 times before knocking it onto the grass. It was really quite impressive!

Makenna with aunt Natalie and Uncle Mike outside the portrait studio

It was also Natalie's birthday that day, so we celebrated that night by going out to dinner in Downtown Disney, at T-Rex, which was a really fun restaurant. It was filled with life-size animatronic creatures. The biggest challenge of the night was trying to keep Makenna and Hudson in their seats, because they kept wanting to walk around and look at all of the dinosaurs.

Hudson with Grand-Da (John's dad)

We sat in the ice cave portion of the restaurant, which from a distance looked really cool, but up close had some crazy (almost too crazy) lighting.
After dinner, the rest of the gang went and saw a movie, and John and I walked around Downtown Disney with the kids before heading home in time for their bedtime.


The next day we went back to Disney World, this time to

Hollywood Studios.

We got there an hour before the park opened, and were able to go on some of the big rides (Rock N' Roller Coaster and Tower or Terror) without having to wait in any lines. John's parents took the kids for us so that we could go on those rides with the other couples. They made good use of that time by getting everyone fast passes for the Toy Story Mania ride, and visiting with some of the characters.

Here is Makenna on the Toy Story ride, which was really fun! I think that everyone enjoyed this one. It is an interactive ride, where you play a bunch of different carnival-style shooting games (and of course uncle Mike had the highest score of the hour!).

We spent a lot of the rest of our day seeing some of the fun shows. Makenna loved watching the Voyage of The Little Mermaid, and the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage shows (Playhouse Disney cartoons are her favorite to watch in the mornings).

One of many tram rides

Here is a picture of our whole group with the Monsters Inc. characters

The rest of our trip was a little more low-key than the first couple of days. We mostly just spent lots of time being together as a family. We played games, went swimming, had a few hours of girls-only shopping, ate lots of delicious food, and celebrated Christmas. I thought having a warm Christmas might be weird, but I actually loved it! We played sand volleyball for about 2 hours, and then went swimming on Christmas afternoon...it was wonderful! We also had some really nice meaningful family devotionals throughout the trip. I loved spending time with, and getting to know my new sister-in-laws and soon-to-be sister-in-law. The kids too, loved playing with all of their aunts and uncles. I only wish that we all lived closer together so that we could see each other more often. Overall, it was such a fantastic trip, and we were so lucky to be able to go! (Thank you, Thank you to Mom and Da for making it all possible...We love you!)

Christmas at Disney World Part 2

The Disney Princesses and Fairies

The first thing we did when arriving at Magic Kingdom, was to find out where we needed to go to meet the Princesses, knowing that this was the most important thing to Makenna. We split from the group and after stopping for a few photo ops, headed straight to the back of the park to the Toontown Hall of Fame, where the Princesses were.

When we first arrived, we thought that maybe we were in the wrong place, because it was SO empty. We found what said was the start of the line to see the Princesses, and started following it. When we got to the beginning of the line, there was only one little girl there with her mom and dad, and that was it! They told us they started letting people in to see the Princesses at 9:00. It was 8:50, so we only had to wait for 10 minutes, and Makenna was 2nd in line!! We really could not believe our luck, because we had heard horror stories of people waiting in line for hours and hours to see the Princesses. So after waiting for a very short 10 minutes, we were led into the room where 3 Princesses were waiting.

Each of the Princesses were SO wonderful, and took several minutes with Makenna, asking her questions, signing her autograph book, giving her hugs, and posing for pictures. It was so much fun watching Makenna interact with the Princesses...she was SO HAPPY! (I really am getting giddy just thinking about it, it was such an awesome experience.)

First Makenna met Princess Aurora

Then Cinderella

And finally Belle
I'm not sure if it was because Makenna was wearing a Belle dress, but Princess Belle was so, so sweet with Makenna. All of the princesses were great, but Belle especially took extra time with Makenna, and really made her feel so special.

One last hug

After we left from seeing the Princesses, I really felt like we could leave the park, and our day would have been complete. Makenna enjoyed the experience so much that she wanted to go right back in and see the Fairies this time. By this time the line was a little longer, but we still only had to wait about 25 mins. to see the Fairies.


First there was Rosetta

Then Tinkerbell

And lastly Iridessa

This was by far Makenna's favorite part of our trip to Disney World, and one of mine as well.

Christmas at Disney World

John and I were lucky enough to get to spend a week in sunny, 70+ degree Orlando, Florida for Christmas this year with all of John's side of the family. It was especially exciting because since our last Christmas with John's family (2008) all 3 of John's younger brothers have added a significant other (2 are married, and one is engaged). This was our first chance to be all together as a family. John's parents rented a big villa so that we could all be under one roof, and we had such a great time visiting Disney World, enjoying the warm weather, and spending time as a family.

On our first day at Disney, we went to Magic Kingdom. We arrived shortly after it opened, and enjoyed a less-crowded morning at the park. John and I took Makenna straight to see the Princesses, and had an Awesome experience...post on that to come.

Makenna and Grandma CeCe
Heading down Main Street wearing our "Family Reunion" pins
Trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone

Riding the "Prince Charming Regal Carousel"
Getting ready to watch Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D movie

We left the park about noon to head back to our cars and eat a lunch that we packed. On the way back to the park we took the ferryboat instead of the monorail.

Hudson and Uncle Joey on the ferryboat

Shortly after we got back to the park, Makenna fell asleep in the stroller. I really can not remember the last time she slept in a stroller (it has been a long time). She was thoroughly worn out from our fun morning!
We stayed at the park long enough to watch Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. Makenna sat right in front waving at all of the floats as they went by. Of course she was especially excited to see the Princesses. Hudson watched most of the Parade sitting on John's shoulders, and took advantage of the opportunity to play with John's hair in between the action.

The stars of the parade After the parade, we did a little souvenir shopping on our way out, and left the park at about 4pm. We were all pretty tired, and were ready for a nice, relaxing evening at home.

Lessons Learned

from celebrating Christmas 2010...

1. Santa sometimes visits early.

2. Our student budget doesn't really allow for buying the best and nicest items.

3. Grandmas and Grandpas go a LONG way in making up for the student Christmas budget...THANK YOU!!

4. John continues his streak of buying a better present for me than I buy for him. (Think ear buds and a pull-up bar vs. an ipod nano)

5. A one year old + a zhu zhu pet = lots of fun.

6. Shopping for stockings is fun...shopping for your own stocking is even better!

7. Buying $2 stockings at Target rather than stressing to finish the kids' homemade stockings is a really good idea. (The countdown for next year is on)

8. It is possible to lose, and I mean really lose things in a 1200 sq. ft. home. Case in point...my bag of thread needed to finish the kids stockings. I have looked everywhere, and it is no where to be found. Hence the $2 Target stockings.

9. Just because it is a good deal, doesn't mean it is a good deal.

10. A one your old + a large Barbie Castle is not a good mix.

11. Bigger is not always better.

12. No ornament is safe (we have sadly lost 4 this year to Hudson's "I-must-get-into-everything-nature," all of which I thought were safely out of his grasp).

13. John is well on his way to being a Husker fan!

14. Kids are much easier to please than adults (even though I wasn't thrilled with the quality of my black Friday amazing deal on a Barbie Castle, Makenna LOVES it, and really that is what matters.)

15. Celebrating Christmas with kids is really fun!! Some of my favorite quotes from Makenna of our early Christmas celebration:

"All of these things are SO CUTE!"

"How are we going to fit all of these in our room?"

"This is the best Christmas EVER!"

Here are some photos from our "Best Christmas Ever"