Day 168

It's been a LONG day today friends.  Joel was home sick all day and got worse tonight.  We have a doctor's appt in the morning for him, but it was an overwhelming day!  Hope he gets some meds and feels better tomorrow...my poor lil guy!
Happy moments today were that I reorganized my kitchen a bit while Connor was out and Joel was watching TV on the couch.  Joel went to my room and took a good nap and I took out trash, emptied boxes of things, and did laundry...quite the productive day! 

David is out of town so my parents came over and helped with the boys tonight.  They had a lot of fun hanging out.  Joel stayed on the couch all glassy eyed and Connor played his heart out with my dad...yea for big toys!  Both are off to dreamland now and I am really hoping Joel feels better tomorrow.

I got to take a nice, long, bath tonight and am headed to sleep in a bed all by myself...get to stretch out and not wake someone up telling them to roll over because they are snoring...absence makes the heart grow fonder friends :-)  Hope all of you get a good rest and enjoyed your Monday!  Tuesday will be here before we know it and then POOF, here is March!  It is going by a little too fast these days!

Day 167 Sunday

We woke up early this morning, got ready for church, and headed out.  I did pretty well leading the music today!  It was nice to see my boys down in the congregation behaving and being kind to one another....all that Disney love leftover from yesterday lol.

We came home and took naps.  Then we headed to my parent's house for a certain game that was on the television.  I must say I certainly enjoyed the commercials, the half time music, AND the fact that I picked the winning team!  All many happy moments!  It was fun to tease my dad back and forth all afternoon.  We bonded over football...happy!

Joel started to not feel too good, so he headed home early with David.  Connor enjoyed getting ALL of the attention from his grandparents for once.  He was having SO much fun getting attention that he decided to set off their house alarm and call the police!  A huge siren went off and the police called my parents.  Thankfully my dad took care of it, but Connor is the first grandchild to set off the alarm...way to go BOO BOO....hmmmm.

Hope Joel feels better tomorrow.  I don't want him to miss too much school.  Thinking happy thoughts about Connor at playgroup and Joel at school and all of the things that I need to get done lol.

Day 166

Can't believe it is already Saturday!  What an amazing weekend it has been so far!
We finished up out time at the Disneyland Hotel with a dip in the pool this morning brrrr and also YEA lol.  It was so neat to swim somewhere that I have DREAMED of swimming for a very long time.  The boys had fun, but lasted about 30 minutes because it was so cold!
We packed up our bags in our room and did some shopping in the hotel lobby....a bit different from other hotel lobbys lol this was basically a version of the Disney Store.

We headed home but first did a detour over to visit my dad and play in the kid's area for a bit.  The boys were little balls of ENERGY still, mommy and daddy were ready for nap time!

After we came home and took naps, we made dinner for the Mormon Missionaries.  We had a fun time hearing stories about where they were from and getting to know them better.  Being a future mommy of a missionary I welcome the opportunity to feed these boys and hope people do the same for mine someday.

We are so sleepy!  What a beautiful time we had together as a family.  It was a great opportunity.  I don't know if we will ever do it again someday, but the Disney memories we made this weekend were so wonderful.  LOL Connor just kept saying WOW to everything and Joel gave two thumbs up to the fast rides this time.  We had such great opportunities to bond and share love with our boys.  Happy!

Day 165 FRIDAY!

WOW!  Again with so many happy moments today! My head is swimming with them all!  I will start by saying that It's a Small World was OPEN today, and that moment of taking my boys on that ride and watching Connor as his jaw hung open the ENTIRE time was so neat!  He kept looking around at it all, pointing out animals or simply saying "wow!" I loved it!
So we began day two of our fun adventure.  Now, David and I had talked and said it would be SO nice to be able to stay at the Disneyland Hotel for one more night.  Especially since the boys would be so tired today and would need naps.  Well, we got a piece of paper in our check out paperwork that invited us to stay for about 60 percent off the cost of the room!  Yea for staying during the off season!  So the boys....and we....had a place to take a much needed nap, and continue the rest of our fun day!
Disney Junior, live on stage was a favorite with them today.  Connor would not stop asking for the "horse" ride and "elephant" ride ALL day!  Joel wanted to do Star Tours over and over again.
We ate at the Blue Bayou for dinner tonight as well.  We haven't eaten there in YEARS, but it was so fun to see Joel GET that we were at the restaurant that we always pass by on Pirate's ride.  The food was AMAZING as well!
After dinner, we ran into my cousins that live in Utah!  What are the odds of that?!  It was so nice to see them, catch up, and make some plans on visiting them this summer...too fun!
The fireworks were cancelled due to crazy windy weather, so off to Star Tours David and Joel went, and I did my first date night with a single guy at Disneyland in YEARS!  He has good taste too :-) We went on Finding Nemo and Autopia or "car...beep beep" ride as he called it.
We got to walk back to our room, tired as ever, and all fall asleep quickly!  It was such a great day today....again!  We had the best family together time we have had in a long while. LOL I kept telling everyone "NO ER visits on this trip!" Can't imagine why I would be so paranoid as to say that lol.
It was just so neat to have everyone together, spending quality time.  Joel is growing up!  Can't believe he was tall enough to ride some of the rides.  It was fun to end our night at Disneyland in the Tiki room.  My grandma used to take me there.  As I sat there with the boys I could HEAR her singing some of the songs.  It is amazing that a fourth generation is now enjoying Disneyland....so many happy moments!

Day 164 THURSDAY!

What a fantastic day! 

• We began our morning at Goofy's Kitchen and had breakfast with all kinds of Disney characters.  Connor would not stop staring at Goofy and he got pictures with several of the characters.  One even gave him a "First Visit" pin for Disneyland...a very important thing in our family!
• We did Disneyland and California Adventure.  SO many happy moments!  Joel going on Space Mountain and Star Tours for the first time ever. Connor watching everything and enjoying every ride we went on.
• Connor kept asking for more after we went on the Carosel and Dumbo rides.  
• One of our favorite parts of the day was heading back to our hotel room at the Disneyland Hotel. It was so fun to turn on a light and listen to music and see fireworks above our headboards.  The boys loved listening to the bed time story.  They took baths and snuggled down to dreamland pretty quickly!  Connor even got to sleep in his OWN big boy bed for the first time!  LOL he did fall out of it in the middle of the night, but we put him right back in.

Today was one of those days that you wait for from the moment you are married and realize that you want children.  I took my CHILDREN to Disneyland :-)  Getting to watch it all through their eyes was priceless!  It's a Small World was closed, so didn't get to have that moment with them, but maybe next time.  I am just so happy that my sweet boys loved it all and took it all in.  Oh oh, and Joel got to fight Darth Vader in a Jedi Academy battle...how many kids get to do that?  SO fun!  I am so grateful for today!

Day 163

Not too bad of a day today.  It was long and we were pretty tired from being up since 4 AM lol but we made it through and can't wait for our adventure in the next couple of days!  I might not be able to post, but I will write it down and post when I am able to once more.
Aladdin seems to be doing well.  We are now sedating him a few times a day (via Vet orders) to keep him calm and happy.  I am pretty sure he is enjoying all of the pretty colors swirling around him lol.
Lots of work today, but it was good and some of my itty bitty kidos worked so hard!  It is so nice to see them smile and be happy as they have mini break-throughs in their language. 

-I got to blow dry my hair this morning and it felt great!  The brush worked really well in my hand and I am so grateful that the strength is coming back again!

- We had a nice family dinner sharing what our favorite things of the day were.  Joel had a great time doing his OT and Connor was excited about playing with his babysitter building sand castles with "sand toys" so cute! 

Well I am really looking forward to some much needed family time tomorrow!  So excited to get to watch and enjoy through a child's eye.  It has been my dream for YEARS to do what we are doing tomorrow.  I  have both of my children and we are going to have a great day.  Happy thoughts to you all!  Happy moments here I come!

Day 162

Well, we are in for a long night again tonight.  Aladdin got his bandages off...oy vey!  We are going to call the vet in the morning to see what we can do to help him.

So I bring you happy moments in bullet form and then bed time for me!

• It was nice to have the day not working.  I started my morning walking Joel to school and then walking with my friend Tara and her doggies all over town.  SO nice to hit our trails and see nature and enjoy the outdoors!  It was a good walk, good talk, and we bumped into our friend Jennifer on the way back...happy girl moments!

• Connor behaved REALLY well while Joel was at OT today.  We read books in the car and talked.  It is so nice when he isn't throwing a 2 yr old fit...that time of day can be bad because it is naptime, so it is nice when he doesn't act up. 
•  We went to the park and played with kids from our congregation.  Since I was having a MUCH better day than last Tuesday, it was nice to be able to function mentally and talk with the other moms.  Last week I came home from the park and cried myself to sleep over everything going on.  This week I felt so much LIGHTER and happier.  See what happy moments can do for you?
• Finding the joy was easy to do today and I am grateful for that.  I feel so blessed and loved by God every day and I wish others could have that feeling as well.  We live in a world full of evil and negativity my friends.  I am just grateful to be able to push most of it out of the way and focus on the good.  Now onto getting my kitty cat and husband some much needed rest!  Night all!