Our "09" Build-A-Bear Trip!

On Valentines Day, we headed out to Build-A-Bear! We have done this 3 years in a row, its our tradition with Jolee. Boy, how Valentines Day changes after you have a kid. I wouldn't change it for the world. We all 3 go to Build-A-Bear and out to dinner together.

Don't get me wrong, my man still remembered me on Valentines Day too. I woke up to roses in a vase with the sweetest card ever, and a wonderful pancake breakfast. He got all creative in the kitchen that morning, we had heart shaped pancakes, we had kissee lip pancakes, and we had initial pancakes, you know...a T for me, a J for Jolee, and a S for Silas.

Jolee is now the proud owner of the most expensive animal in Build-A-Bear...a Zebra!

Once she got all warmed up to the noise and people, she loved it. And she was so excited about her zebra. Every year we forget about the loud noise of the stuffing machine and how it scares her, but who's going to mess with tradition and stop going. Not us! Besides, it only last for a minute or two!

This is her 2 year old face that says....You want me to do what?

But she did end up leaving a message, so when you press the zebra's foot, in Jolee's cute little voice it says......Happy Valentine's Day!

Me helping Jolee pick out a what color heart, to put in her new zebra!

Jolee bathing and brushing her new animal, as she says.

Daddy and Jolee at the computer giving her Zebra a name. They named it........Stripey! And if you want to know how much it weighs and how tall it is, just let me know. Stripey has a birth certificate with that on there. High tech at "ole" Build-A-Bear, I tell ya!

Jolee, Daddy, and Stripey

Jolee, Mommy, and Stripey

Jolee hugging Stripey. Stripey goes with us everywhere now and if it cant go in a place, say like church he waits in the car, but is with us. Stripey also has a place in her bed at night, along with the other 10 plus animals.

Jolee with her 3 years worth of Valentine Build-A-Bear's!

Our Day at Disney!

Our day at Disney was so much fun! We all had a really good time. It really is something special seeing it through your child's eyes. Jolee is very much into the Princesses and Cinderella and her castle right now. She was in awe of it, when she saw it for the first time. And through out the day, she would say look there it is!!

This is a picture of Jolee getting all sugared up on Pepsi, as we waited in line for an hour for my free birthday ticket! Your thinking you waited in line for an hour? I'm saying yes, it saved us $80.00 that day!

When I got my ticket, they gave me a button that said my name and Happy Birthday on it. Well it must be a requirement, if you work there and if you see someone with that button on, you must say..."Happy Birthday"! I have never ever been told so many times..."Happy Birthday Tara"! At first I was loving it, and then by that night it started getting a little old.

They gave Jolee a button as well, that stated it was her 1st time at Disney. She loved it and was super proud of it and wanted to show everyone.



A family picture as we entered the magical gates!

The first ride we went on, was the Snow White ride. The great parents we are, saw Snow white and said we are in, she will love it. What we didn't see was..."Snow Whites Scary Adventure" on the sign, until we were on the boat and going in. Yep, that ride didn't go so well. She was screaming, I was scared, not the best choice for her 1st ride at Disney. Strike 1 against the parents.


But we made up for it. We stood in line all day, just so she could see ALL the princesses. This picture is of Jolee and Daddy waiting in line to see Ariel.

She loved Ariel. She talked to her and talked to her. And when we said ok it's time to get down and go she started tearing up.

Jolee and Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella talking to Jolee.

By the time we got to Belle, she was done and wanted Mommy to go up there with her.

I printed these pictures out for her and put them in a book and she carries that book everywhere and we look at it a ton of times through out the day! Keeping the magic alive, is what we are doing.

A nice family picture at Disney!

The rides that stuck out in my head were...Dumbo and Small World.

She loved, loved, loved, "Its a Small world" she didn't take her eyes off of anything in there the whole time. She stared and pointed and now she sings that song all the time! And Dumbo, well it started off a little rocky. She screamed and wanted out until I told her we were flying like birds, and we got to see Cinderella's castle from way up high. Then towards the end, she was loving it and didn't want it to be over. But any one that knows her, knows it takes her awhile to warm up to things.

And you can't leave Disney with out a $12.00 pair of Minnie Mouse ears!

Oh, the light parade was AWESOME! We all 3 loved it!

This is Jolee's reaction to the parade! She was so excited!

Cinderella

Snow White

And 10 minutes after being in the car, she was out!

We all had a wonderful day and it was a wonderful birthday!

Our camping trip at Fort Wilderness!

So the weekend of my Birthday, in January we went camping. It happened to be the coldest weekend in Florida of the year. We went because at Disney this year you can get in free on your birthday, so I could get in free, Jolee can still get in free, so there for we only had to buy 1 ticket for Silas. I'm all about saving some money.And Jolee has been dying to see Cinderella's castle. So we went, we chose to camp, #1 because it is cheaper than a hotel, #2 Jolee and her daddy love it , #3 Fort Wilderness at Disney looked like a cool place and #4 it is good quality family time. We didn't know at the time of planning and booking that it was going to be so cold!

Jolee loved it! She loved wearing her hat and gloves! While Silas and I put up the tent she gathered up pine cones and put them in a straight line (she gets the OCD thing from her father) and called it her pine cone collection!

At the camp, you get on a Disney bus and ride to whatever attraction on the camp you want to visit. This was Jolee's 1st time on a bus and she loved it, a matter of fact she loved it so much when we got to our destination...the petting zoo, she cried because she didn't want to get off the bus ride.


Just running around having fun!

I told you it was freezing!!! It was so cold the horses even had on jackets!!!

Jolee and Daddy

That night we went to the "Chip N Dale" sing along at the camp. It was so cute, we all did the hokey poky, and danced and sang along with them.

Mommy and Jolee trying to stay warm at the camp fire. After the sing along, we watched 101 Dalmatians on a big screen outside. It was a lot of fun, cold but fun!

This is as close, as Jolee would let us get to "Chip N Dale"!

Jolee and Daddy roasting marshmallows!

All in all, despite the 30 degree weather, the flannel pj's I slept in, and the 5 blankets that we had on us that night, and despite that I woke up on my Birthday frozen solid on a air mattress in a tent, we had a great time being together!

We cant wait to go back, when it is.... WARMER! A post on the day at Disney coming later!

Happy V Day!

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentines Day!

We are off to Build-A-Bear. We have taken Jolee there every year on Valentines Day and this year she is so excited about it. Its our little tradition, and we go as a family!

A Princess World

I just love how she says all the Princesses names, especially Cinderella. Her favorite ended up being Belle, which she said right as I turned the camera off.

Everything is Princesses around our house, that's all she wants to talk about, read about, and dress up like. She will ask you 50 times a day.... Who is your favorite Princess? And if you happen to change it from the last time she asked, your in trouble! Because she will remind you that's not the Princess you said before, Mommy!

She was into them before we went to Disney, but since we have gone and she got to see and talk and have her picture with them. WOW! She is really into them now! She carries the pictures around with her all the time of her and all the Princesses she met, so she can look at them and talk to them. (I will post on our Disney trip soon)!