A little teaser.

I've lived in Georgia long enough to know that the warm, sunny weather we have been experiencing all weekend is in no way, shape or form indicative of how the climate will be over the next several weeks.  We will most certainly have more cold weather before spring and summer get here.

But that didn't stop us from enjoying every minute we could outside.

On Saturday, we hit up the Silver Comet Trail, or the Supermarket Trail, as Gracie calls it.  Had Bonnie not been begging for a nap, we would have stayed a lot longer.  

While Corey was at church this morning (yes, I skipped today) I got the house ready for the meeting with our realtor.  Hopefully we'll be on the market sometime in the near future.  Stay tuned...

And leave a lot of people with a gap tooth smile...

My friend, Amber, invited us over for a play date this morning.  We were all very excited because not only have we not seen them since they moved out of our neighborhood 2 months ago, but we also got to see their brand new house.  With a basement.  Grace is obsessed with basements these days, as every basement she's ever seen has doubled as a playroom.

As soon as I told her where we were going she, of course, asked if Reid's new house had a basement. 

Anyway, Ceylese and Blake joined us as well, and at some point during the morning the moms got to talking about dentists and teeth and taking our kids to the dentist and what our various dentists have said about our kids' teeth, yadda, yadda.

Amber's dentist has expressed concern about the spatial proximity of Reid's teeth; i.e., they're really close together.

Apparently, Ceylese's dentist has expressed similar concern over Mackenzie's grill.

Our dentist hasn't mentioned anything like to me.  Hmmm...

While the older kids played in the playroom, Bonnie was very busy running laps around Amber's downstairs.  

Just as I finished saying how I didn't think Corey and I have to worry about overcrowding of the mouth with the girls' gap-tooth smiles, Bonnie sailed by and without missing a step said, "Gap tooooooooooooof."

Bonnie fell asleep in the car on the way home, and after I semi-forced her to finish her nap in her crib, the girls spent the rest of the afternoon playing chase.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon dreading having to do P90X later.  

That's a story for another day. 

The Blackout Period

My kids love the band Queen.  Particularly the song Somebody to Love.  Bonnie is actually starting to sing somewhat more coherently, too.  The first verse goes a little something like this:

Caaaaaa... Anee puppy...baa beeee...buh buh buh booo....wuuuuuuuuu  

I know, I know, I talk about this all the time.  Believe me, I know.

There's a reason for it, though.  

While Corey and I were schmoozing it up at the Piedmont Driving Club (uh no, we are not members) last week for his team's congratulatory dinner (they just closed the acquisition of Atlantic Station!!), one of the partners shared a little pearl of wisdom with us.

Apparently, being parents to 2 young children puts us smack in the middle of something called the Blackout Period.  

The way it was explained to us is that the Blackout period denotes the span of approximately a decade, where parents to young children are completely out of touch with pop culture.  Particularly movies and music.  

Clearly in our case it's music.        

The girls had a ball at my parents' house while Corey and I had our "date night."

Guess what they're watching on You Tube?  Yep.  Queen.

"I feel like I'm in college."  -Grace, age 3 1/2

Over the weekend, we had another dinner date (this time the kids came along) with our great friends, the Pittmans.  Actually, Ceylese is my best friend and Corey and Brad were lucky enough to meet each other through us.

On our way home, Corey and I affectionately named the Pittman's home "The Silver Spoons House" after, of course, the famed 1980's sitcom Silver Spoons.

The kids all had a blast, and Grace looked like the girl version of Ricky Schroeder, aka Ricky Stratton, riding around on Blake's motorized Thomas the Train.

Tempus fugit.

Calls herself "Bobbie"

My baby {sniff, sniff} toddler is 17 months old today.  That means that she is almost 1 1/2 years old, which means that she is almost 2.

Time flies!

Today, on Bonnie's 17 month birthday, I made the executive decision to avoid taking her to any and all restaurants until further notice, perhaps even until she reaches double digit years.

Despite our Jim 'n Nick's fiasco this afternoon (I'll spare the details), Bonnie is a very good baby {sniff, sniff} toddler.

She is still an excellent sleeper.  She is finally on one solid 3 hour nap a day, and sleeps exactly 12 hours every night.  To the minute.  If I put her down at 7:15pm, she wakes up at 7:15am.  If I put her down at 7:07pm...you get the idea.  It's quite remarkable.

That said, she goes to bed between 7-7:15pm and sleeps until between 7-7:15 in the morning.  Unfortunately for her I don't get up until 8am.

She is also becoming quite adept at using a fork and spoon to eat her meals, which in turn has led to more of a mess for me, but a broader palate for her.

She is extremely independent, often pushing us away if we offer assistance with whatever she is attempting to do by herself.

She is a screamer.  And sometimes a biter (we're working on fixing that one).

She has, hands down, the absolute best baby {sniff, sniff} toddler laugh.

She is into Corey and me equally right now, but is especially fond of her big sister.  All I hear during our waking hours is Gaysheeee!

She is developing some outstanding manners, saying peesh (please) and day-doo (thank you) or dansch (thanks) when she wants/is given something.  And if she really wants more of a given item, she'll pull out all the stops and say, "Peesh?  Mokay (more okay)!"


She LOVES any flavor of YoBaby smoothies, or moo-wees, and would drink them all day if she could.

Every time she hears someone cough she'll ask, "Areeokay?"  And if she coughs, she expects you to ask her the same question to which she replies, "Yah."

She loves to dance.  She loves to sing.  She still loves Dora and Ariel.  And Queen (I promise we listen to lots of other artists, just not while Bonnie is around).  She is still attached to Snuggle Puppy, but has added Pluto, or Boopy (not to be confused with Goofy), to the litter.  She loves George.  She loves other children.  She loves Jesus and America, too...ha ha.

And we LOVE her.  

Loves peebeesh (pancakes) 

Loves to give hugs

Third and Final Day at Disney

Ok, I promise that this is my last post about our trip.  It's just that we had such a great time and I can't get enough of that place.  Or these pictures.  And the looks on the girls' faces every time we walked into the park and saw Cinderella's majestic castle.

Nana Granddad headed back to Oklahoma today, leaving us without any chaperones at the Magic Kingdom.  Yes, we went back to the Magic Kingdom for the third day in a row.  Why go anywhere else???

The parades never get old

Finally caved and had some fudge

Putting Bonnie's glove back on...what a prince!

Meeska, Mooska, Minnie Mouse!

Grace's favorite rides can be ranked in the following order:

1. The Barnstormer, which she rode no less than 20 times

2. The Teacups, which she also rode no less than 20 times

3. Peter Pan, which she only rode 3 times

Bonnie loved the Peoplemover.  We rode it twice.  I have a feeling that the next time we visit Disney World, Bonnie will have more of say on what we ride. 

Today while Grace was busy breaking Barnstormer riding records, I took Bonnie to meet the Big Guy and his Gal.  She was so excited and even got a kiss on the cheek from Mickey.

Mom's turn!

We rounded off our last day with a quick visit with the fairies...

And you won't believe this (I could hardly even believe it), but we actually got on the elevator back to our room with Santa Claus himself.  As soon as the elevator doors opened Bonnie took one look at him and said "ho ho ho!"  Grace's eyes about bugged out of her head.

Of course she wanted to know where his suit was, so he told her that he was on vacation and didn't need to wear it since the weather in Florida is so warm.

It was the perfect end to a great trip!

More Magic (Kingdom)

Day 2 and we're still having a blast.  And since I'm having such a hard time choosing pictures to post, I'm just going to share them all.  

We couldn't stay at the Contemporary and not have breakfast with Chef Mickey and rest of the Gang.  Now, I'm not normally a fan of buffets, but this one was amazing; all the food you could possibly imagine...even waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse!  Grace was beside herself.

You can imagine the girls' reactions when the characters came out.  Each table got a special visit from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.  Needless to say my older child had a hard time waiting for her turn.  She was very excited.

We learned on this trip that Bonnie LOVES Pluto.  I don't know why that surprises me as we can't leave her bedroom at home without Snuggle Puppy.

After breakfast we got right down to business at the Magic Kingdom.  The weather was a little more chilly today, which made for some nice short lines.  

Grace rode the Barnstormer another 5 times today...

Off for another ride!

Still tall enough

Bonnie pretending that she just braved the Haunted Mansion

Jungle Cruise

It was rapidly approaching Bonnie's (and Granddad's) bedtime, we headed back to the hotel and left Grace and Corey in the park to ride the Mad Tea Party, aka, the teacups and the Barnstormer another dozen times.  

They also caught the fireworks show at the end of the night.  

It was certainly another magical day!