It's 3:42 a.m. and the house is still. I kinda like being awake at this hour. The reason for my early rising is not insomnia. It's the airport. Soon my children and husband will be awake and we will be off to....Florida! We are going to Disney World!

Shocker, right? Here's the scoop: Last fall Andy booked his flight and hotel for this week in Orlando because of a children and family pastor's conference that was taking place at a Disney World resort. In October we toyed with the idea of taking the girls but with the cost of flying and other things (like me shut up in a hotel room all day with two little people), we decided that we would wait until they were older (and could remember!) to take a trip to the magical world of Disney.

Then on Sunday we started kind of thinking, oh what the hey, let's go! Again, reality grounded us and we decided we had really better stay. But then, through what I can only explain as an extraordinary set of circumstances and people, we were given the opportunity to go as of late Monday night. How could we refuse?! We discovered that the hotel is a part of Disney World and so there will be plenty of places to go and see while Andy is away during the day so that problem was covered. As far as going to the theme parks, Andy has a half day on Thursday, so we'll enter the park at a discounted rate and the girls are free.

I still can't believe it! Georgia woke up from her nap yesterday and said, "Mom, I wanna see Cinderella." And I said, "Okay, Georgia! How about tomorrow?"

We'll fill you in on all the fun details when we return!

Do Your Kids Do This?

Georgia is going through a phase; at least I hope it's a phase. There really is no polite way to say it either....she gets naked. I guess she's not totally naked. She can't unsnap her cloth diapers, but I'm sure she'll learn how to do that soon enough. Unless (please, Lord, please) I can get that girl potty-trained.

I have to laugh at her though. The other day I turned my head for just a minute and the next thing I know she's wearing nothing but a diaper...and a rubber band. LOL! And she was wearing it just like a garter. That girl really cracks me up - for real! I really am impressed, though, with how fast she can strip down and it surprises me still that she can even undress herself after I've been doing it for her for so long.

And it's not just herself - she also is continually undressing her dolls and asking me to dress them, only to undress them two minutes later. Just what, pray tell, is the obsession with the removal of clothing?

Happy New Year!

I'm only a week late in wishing you a happy new year and even later in the Christmas pictures I'm posting. I was going to scrap a Christmas post altogether, but I have too much cute stuff.

(Part of the reason I'm behind is I've been designing this new face of my blog and I am sooo not computer savvy that it's taken two full days to get it figured out and I still have a few kinks to mess with. Anyway.....)

We had a great Christmas. We opened gifts on Christmas Eve so that we wouldn't be rushed getting ready for church on Christmas morning. It was so much fun to watch Georgia this year. This year she loved unwrapping her gifts and she loved what was inside of them. Lola, of course, didn't really care, but loved watching Georgia. Also this year Georgia learned all the words to Away in a Manger and we've been singing it ever since.

After church on Sunday morning, we traveled to Iowa Falls for a big Christmas celebration with all my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. Then it was on to my mom's for a few days of relaxation and fun and presents and games and food with my immediate family. A treat for us this year was my sister Ivy was home from North Carolina! We talk almost daily, so it was strange to think it'd been a year since I'd seen her. It was the first time she'd met Lola and it just made her trip that much more special. It also made it that much harder to see her go, knowing it may be another year before I see her again.


I hope that your Christmases with your families were blessed and filled with God's spirit and that you will be reminded each day of 2012 that God's mercies are new every morning!

Sledding

Today is Christmas Eve and there is no snow. That seems almost impossible for Iowa! We have had a few dustings, and one of them was just enough for Andy to break Georgia in to the fun of sledding. We found some snow pants on sale last year and they fit perfectly; however, she walks around like the little boy from A Christmas Story.

Our backyard was the perfect place for her first experience on a sled. It has a very gentle slope; not too fast, but just the right speed for a two-year-old.

I wasn't able to capture any outside action shots, but here are a few pre-adventure pics.

Georgia-isms

After eating three-quarters of a candy cane, "Mom, I just can't like this." Yeah right.

Watching me change Ollie's diaper, "Mom! What is that? A big belly button?"

At dinner I scolded her for playing when she was supposed to be eating. "Mom, I love you." I was totally trying to suppress my smile. "I love you too, honey, but you are making Mommy upset. You need to eat your dinner." In complete shock: "I making you upset? Oh my goodness, I don't believe it!" I had to walk away to laugh after that one.

At the mall, Andy and I split up to do some Christmas shopping. He took the girls with him and when we met up later Georgia said, "Mom! We got you some socks. But it's a surprise!" I guess we now know who not to trust with our secrets.

More Fall and Then We'll Move On

I just have a few more pictures from this fall to share with you. The fall season was so beautiful this year, so we had many days to get outside. We have three trees in our front yard that were more than willing to share their leaves with us, providing lots of fun and photo opportunities. I think this will be my last backlog post and then I'll start sharing about the present.

Oh, and don't let the video freak you out.

Niabi Zoo

Our local zoo offers free admittance every Friday in October and November. The first Friday in October was a warm, beautiful day, so we, along with some friends, took the girls to see the animals. It really is a nice little zoo and we always have a good time together.

can you see the lions?