The Countdown Has Begun....

The kids are getting so excited to go see  Mickey again.  I have to say I'm pretty excited myself!  I have been to Disneyland more times than I can count, but I love taking the kids there.  Alli has always been a really big fan of Mickey and Minnie.
Even though we have been there tons of times we will have a few firsts this trip.  We have never stayed at a Disney property and this time we will spend our 5 nights at the Disneyland Hotel.  I can't wait to see the inside.  They have remodeled the rooms recently so they should be awesome.  We also have 6 day Park Hopper Passes so it's safe to say, we will get our fill of the mouse.
Another first will be going to Club 33.  Honestly I had never even heard of the place until I met Mike.  I'm glad that it actually worked out because you have to be a member to eat there (or a member makes the reservation for you) and there is no way we could afford that.  Burny and Grandma EJ came through with some help from one of their friends, who just happens to be the head of Disney Feature Animation.  So exciting and I'm thankful that he was kind enough to help us out.  So on 11/11/11 we will celebrate Mike's 33rd Birthday at Club 33 with a reservation for 33 people.  It should be a great party at  Club 33! Click the link to read more. It's not an official site, but there isn't any info on the Disney site.
 Last night we received a phone call from a couple Disney Characters.  The girls loved it! Alli was convinced we needed to leave right at that moment.

I love this picture from our last Disneyland trip!

 I love this one too, but this was in Orlando.

Halloween 2011

I'm to sure where October went, but I don't recall most of it.  It went by so fast that it's all a blur.  I wasn't really ready for Halloween to be here, but we made it through alive.

Paige had a Girl Scout Halloween party that she went to the Monday before Halloween.  That day I got an email from the room mother of Paige's class.  She said that she would be moving that weekend, and would not be able to do the party.  I had signed up to help so I was afraid that I would be left doing the entire party and of course, the other volunteers wouldn't return phone calls.  Not that being in charge of the party would be bad, because I love helping out at the school.  I just had no clue when I would fit it in.  Luckily, a very sweet mother volunteered to be in charge so I lucked out and only had to come up with a game.

We decided to hide toys and candy in different boxes and the kids had to try to find them buried at the bottom without looking.  The boxes had everything from toilet paper (mummy wrap) to rice (maggots) and noodles (worms).  I loved watching the kids faces as they dug through the rice and noodles.  We also had grapes (eyeballs) that were equally disgusting.

Allison also had a party at her school.  She made cute art projects and brought home lots of candy and little toys.

After school we ran to ice skating for a quick lesson for Paige and then headed up to Mike and Robin's house for white chili and trick or treating.  This year Robin and I took the kids out. Last year it was cold and raining and Mike had to carry Alli most of the way.  This year I lucked out and Alli walked the whole way and although it wasn't warm, it wasn't freezing either.

Carving Pumpkins with Grandpa Old Guy, Grandma D, and Uncle CJ.

Pictures before school.... The Princess and The Nerd...

Paige's school party

Getting ready for Trick or Treating.  

Reflections 2011

This is the program that Paige put together for this years Reflections contest.  Nice job honey!

Diversity means...

By the way, an hour and a half before we recorded this Paige had 6 baby teeth pulled.  She is such a trooper! The tooth fairy was very kind and paid for all 6 teeth even though 1 ended up her her tummy.

Halloween Show 2011

We'll we made it through another ice skating show.  It was a lot of fun and I loved watching the girls, but I'm glad it's over.  Both girls did great.  I think Alli is content with just standing on the ice and doing her moves rather than actually skating.  I love that she does a spread eagle when Kelly picks her up.  She is such a funny kid.  I'm so proud of her though.  It's a pretty big deal to get up in front of hundreds of people like that.  She seemed to really like the attention though.  Paige, as always did great. Love you both, great job girls.

I had to add this video of the Adult Synchro Team (Kelly's team).  I love to watch them skate! I'm not sure how Kelly even finds time to practice! 

On another note I got another job.  I know...... 4 jobs in just under two years.  However, they are all with the same company and have all been promotions. So now I am the Central Processing Supervisor.  I had to trade in my office with the nice view to go back down to the basement of the basement.  I think it will be a great move for me though, and the pay increase doesn't hurt either. :)

Oktoberfest 2011

Paige competed tonight in the Oktoberfest competition. This was her first competition three years ago. She did an awesome job tonight and had some really tough competition this time. I'm so proud of her and all that she has accomplished with her skating. She is so confident when she's out there. Love you Paige! Congrats on Second Place!!

Allison's Skating Lessons

Alli really seems to like skating. Her level is called Snowplow Sam and it's the very first level. She was a little apprehensive at first because there were so many kids out there, but Paige came to save the day! Paige has been a great junior coach. She has really good control. I thought about taking Allison to a public skating session and help her on the ice, but I think she would be better off with Paige. I'd probably just fall on her. I love some of the looks she gives Paige. You can tell how much she looks up to her big sister and wants to be just like her. I'm so glad that Kelly is her coach. However, there was no coincidence there! Kelly told me if I signed her up she would make sure she was teaching her. We love Kelly, she is great with both the girls!

We lucked out borrowing the little pink skates from my cousin. Her little girl that is just older than Alli wore them. Thanks Des! They also had the skate swap just before Alli's first lesson. The skate swap is nice because you can sell your old dresses and skates that are too small. So now the girls have some new attire. Alli's little dress is adorable, but you can't really see it when she's on the ice because of her snow pants. :)

Paige is signed up for the Halloween Show that will be the very end of October. We are considering signing up Allison too. She told me the other night that she really wanted to do it, but we'll see how the next few lessons go.

OK, the video is long. I cut down a lot that I recorded, but I had to put it in two parts to get it on here. What can I say, I'm a proud Momma of my skating girlies.

Still more catching up....

These are a little out of order, but hey, they're on here right? Late as always though. This is catching up from the middle of August to the first few weeks of September. I think other than some ice skating videos I'm caught up.....For now.....

A few weeks ago Dianne took us to see Mary Poppins. It was fun, although it didn't follow the Disney version so I was a little lost. Alli hung out with Daddy and Grandpa Old Guy. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the attention span to sit through a play yet. After that we had a birthday dinner for Dianne.

Mike and my brother decided to surprise Robin and I with a steak and lobster dinner. The guys were really sneaky and stopped at Market Street to get the lobsters. The kids were fascinated with them. Although, when they started warming up a little and flipping around on the tray Alli was a little freaked out. I wish I would have got a picture of the face she pulled. She then informed me that, "That's scustin" (disgusting).

So yummy!!!

At the end of August the Silver Blades had their opening social. The kids loved the face painting and blow up slide. Alli opted for arm painting instead of face painting. Paige got a football and number 22 for Logan, he had a game the following day.

Alli got an ice skate, fitting for her new adventure...

Emma got a cute little monkey....

Here are the pics we took from Lagoon. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and was just using my phone so the pictures aren't great. Alli went on her first BIG ride (Bombora). OK so it's not really BIG, but for a three year old I'm sure it seems huge. It has some fast corners and a little hill. It was hilarious watching her head on the turns, she couldn't hold it up straight. I think I was turned around the whole time watching her.

Rylee is not a huge fan of the big rides, so she rode some of the smaller rides with Alli. It worked out great. Paige is really into the big rides now and doesn't even want to go on the little ones.

I'll try to post Alli's first ice skating lessons in the next few days, I hope..... Tomorrow night we will be at the Oktoberfest competition with Paige. Good luck Paigey!