It’s t-minus 11 hours until Disney. Since C has gone to bed, we’ve been hearing nonstop coughing. Just a few minutes ago, we had to go in because she had gagged while coughing.
Please, please, please have her magically wake up feeling great and healthy and energetic and happy.
Ugh. Feeling a little stressed.
Mark and the kids had a great day at Walmart while we worked the trade show. The pictures are hilarious…
One of my favorite memories of Disney from when I was a kid was hanging out with my family on the Boardwalk. There’s food and street performers and it’s just really cool looking.
Last night, we decided to wrangle the kids and take them there for dinner. Unfortunately, due to our late afternoon at Downtown Disney, I had to wake C from her nap (at 6pm) to leave (never an easy transition).
Right when we arrived, a performer was about to start. He juggled and had a whole schtick. He was actually quite funny. There were only two people in the whole area who were pretty straight-faced. Who? My children.
There were a couple times when they had half smiles…
Once C had a juice box (I showed her that I had bought her one and she didn’t know what it was… special treat for the lady!), she was refueled and ready to go.
We had dinner, watched the sunset, ate a funnel cake, watched another performer and played a bit more!
Charlie woke up singing about the beach where the sharks live from her pink bunk bed (I need to remember to take a picture). She’s already loving her “Florida home,” as she calls it.
This am, Mark & C played while henry napped and Dad and I went to the convention center to set up our trade show booth.
We finished around 1130, scooped up everyone at the house and headed to downtown Disney. C was pumped to see Mick-Mouse, but unfortunately, Downtown Disney is more of an outdoor mall than anything else.
Sillies
First stop: Irish pub for lunch
After lunch, we explored, saw kids singing, Went on C’s first ride (train fun), and more! Good stuff ❤
Q
And how could I forget, we went to a CUPCAKE store for “puck cakes wif frinkles!”
My eye has been twitching for two weeks and I’m going to guess that it 100% correlates to yesterday’s 2.5 hour flight to Orlando. Who would have thought that flying with a 10 month old who never falls asleep in public settings would cause stress…
The day before my flight, I really honed my inner cheerleader. You can do this! 2.5 uninterrupted hours with yours kids and hubs (and parents – we’re in FL for a trade show)… you love those people. Etc, etc.
I was in a good mindset, but unfortunately, running on 4 hours of sleep, which was a bit rough. But, honestly, everyone did really well. 
Of course, there was no sleeping and NO WIFI… wtf, southwest!? I was counting on Fwozen for a certain toddler… but other than that, all was great.
And, of course, with all the random toys I brought, which was the best? POST-IT NOTES!!
We kept sticking them to the back of the seat and henry would rip them off and throw them on the ground.
The kid loves to destroy…
Some other pics…
By the time we finished the flight, got our million bags, and arrived at the rental car counter, the general mood was:
Tiny Hemy was zonked…
Back in February, my neighbor and I decided to attempt to make cookies to use as Valentines for the neighbors and C’s school. See full post here.
After our first attempt, I wasn’t convinced that we had much skill. They were alright, but I wasn’t totally sure. Well, my lovely Type-A, perfectionist neighbor saw something different. Thus began our cookie adventures.
Since Valentine’s Day, we’ve baked maybe 5 or 6 batches (many dozen per batch) of cookies and are really honing our skills. Most importantly, we’re having a lot of fun doing it!
Here are some pics of our cookie journey…
Valentine’s Day Cookies
St. Patty’s Day Cookies
Cookies We Made for My Niece & Nephew’s Teachers
Princess Sophia Cookies for Ellie’s 3rd Birthday
Random Maui Cookies (Maui from Moana) to Test our Skill & New Techniques
Playing Around with Extra Icing… Zebra Face
Easter Egg Cookies
Darth Vadar Easter Egg
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star First Birthday Party
Two or so weeks ago, my parents took the kids, Mark & I to a baseball game. Charlie LOVED it – per usual. Henry… oh Henry. He was a little crazy man… per usual. He climbed all over me, got busted with his little paws in some random kid’s bag of peanuts, was grabbing everyone’s stuff (including the lady next to me) and was just all over the place (generally speaking).
It was a Sunday (family day), so after the game, we took Charlie to run the bases for the FIRST TIME EVER! Of course, it was a dang Cubs game, so we had to wait FOREVER! Literally, we probably waited like 45+ minutes… maybe an hour?
Anyway, it was hilarious. She did such a great job, but couldn’t quite make it till the end. Her “sanals” (sandals) picked up too many pebbles.
Henry thought everyone behind us was staring at him… he LOVED it!
Charlotte’s school runs on a typical public school calendar, so last week, her school was closed. Of course, this meant we were in a childcare shuffle. We had originally planned to put C in a random school for a week, which I was DREADING. I envisioned lots of tears and heartache and guilt.
THANKFULLY, my amazing neighbor offered to take C for the week. Her daughter has become C’s legit BFF. Like, who even knew that almost 3 year olds were capable of such a BFF status… but these girls have it. They had the BEST time playing together all week and my neighbor is amazing. She made BEAUTIFUL pictures with the girls, helped them build pillow forts, and just showed them the best time ever. These photos are literally just everything. I love them. And honestly, I love the friendship between the two girls.
Ellie, my friend’s daughter, also goes to C’s school (only 2 days a week), so this little spring break has really helped to enhance an already great friendship. So cute.
Elyse (me neighbor) told me that the girls were playing “school” and pretending to drop the kid off at school and say goodbye. HAHA!
Apparently, Charlotte fell and Ellie ran over to take care of her…
Rainy Day Forts!
Here are a few pics from the weekend before. We spent the day with the neighbors as a fam… cookout and all!
The “Man Date” HAHA!
A quick afternoon wine tasting… of course!
Last week, our favorite New Yorkers came to town! Mark’s sister, Erika, her hubby Mike & the nieces, Emily & Audrey. Unfortunately, we had a rough start to the visit. Poor Audrey was diagnosed with the flu (influenza) just days before coming to Milwaukee. We were supposed to get together for a big family Sedar (for passover) on that Monday, but ended up cancelling because we didn’t want to risk spreading the flu to the kids (they’re still very high risk).
We ended up seeing them on Tuesday (they had arrived on Saturday) and just about every day after. So, while we had a slow start, the trip was really great! Charlotte and Henry ADORE their cousins and vice versa. It was amazingly cute watching the four kids. I’m talking wagon rides and ring around the rosy cute… reading stories together cute… it was good stuff.
Poor little C got so used to seeing her cousins, she couldn’t quite understand why they weren’t coming over the days after they left Wisconsin. In fact, she cried the whole way home from school on Monday because she wanted to see Audrey.
Thank goodness for technology… the kids spent a good 30+ minutes chatting on FaceTime a couple nights ago. AND, we’ll be trekking out to NY next month over Memorial Day! The kids are SO excited, and so are we! It’s going to be a blast.
Jan-March 2017
Miss Charlotte is filled with hilarious little sayings and just, generally speaking, says the funniest and sweetest things. Here are a handful…
April 2017
Some more recent funny thing…
Playing House 