Disney January

Well we did it! We survived our first family vacation to Disneyland!!! Yay us! We got a 3 day park hopper and a nearby hotel and went for it! We knew the days were doing to be long and we initially thought that we could take a "nap" break mid day, but that didn't happen. The first day started around 11am at California Adventure. We did a lot of the small rides, explored the Cars area, rode the big roller coaster and super cool Ferris wheel, and a whole bunch of other cool rides.

 The day was great and ended with dinner at Downtown Disney with Sean's Aunt Laura, Uncle David, and cousins Melina and Jack. It was great to finally meet the cousins, but we were all too exhausted from the day to function 100%. We made it back to our hotel to check in to find the girls had some awesome bunk beds to snooze on. And they were in their own room! It was perfect! 

The next day was our first day at Disneyland. We didn't get a super early start, but it was still before 11am. We entered the park and headed right to see the Disney Princesses (heard the wait time can be pretty long).  It was very cute to see them and made me wish I was a kid again! Seems like there was not many princesses when I was young. The girls got to meet Aurora - Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Ariel. This experience was super cute. I think the girls were caught off guard; they weren't as excited as I was. 

We went on a lot of rides (even the teacups that almost made me lose it) and found our way to Space Mountain.  To our surprise, both girls loved it! We went on the Small World cruise, headed to Toon Town and met Pluto and Goofy, and then waited in the forever long line at Mickeys house to meet him. M&S got pretty good at waiting in lines for a long time. I was surprised that there were no tantrums over how tired they were of waiting. Our day ended with a super yummy dinner and drinks at The ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney. We all were happy with full bellies! 

Our plan for the third and final day started early and with a special guest! We wanted to get to California Adventure first thing to ride the Radiator Springs ride / CARS (always a long line)  and to be able to spend the rest of the time finishing up Disneyland. Our special guest was one of my besties Stephy! I was so happy she joined us! We spent the last day doing more sight-seeing, riding Space Mountain again, and just enjoying the beautiful day. 

We came home that evening to 3 doggies that missed us sooo much!! Happy it was over and very happy we went!!

So long December.... Hello 2014!

December flew by!  We all survived the M&S's first birthdays with us and their first Christmas. The rough part is that they are STILL on their Christmas Break from school. I am counting down the days until they go back.

After my dad and step-mom left after Thanksgiving, we headed to Manhattan Beach to play in the sand with Mikey and Kathy. This was our second trip to the beach, which was a little bit more chilly. Atleast this time, their dad was there to see their smiles.

We put our tree up the first week of December. I think that the girls had more fun putting the actual tree together than putting the decorations on it. They did a really good job working together to put all the branches in. Then I followed up with making them look better and spreading them out. I loved seeing their little faces when we started putting on all of our family ornaments. They held them very carefully and were cautious in not breaking them.

We also celebrated S turning 7 and M turning 8! We had separate birthday celebrations for both girls. Which is something different for them. In the past, they have always celebrated their birthdays together since they are only 5 days apart. Now, I can see why. They both had a hard time accepting that it was not 'their day' and that they had to wait for presents or they already had their presents. This was quite a learning curve for them. Needless to say, each day with rough for the other child. I had thought about combining them after the fact, but they need to learn and accept each others days and learn to be individuals. Nana Sandy came out for the holiday and made it here in time for M's birthday. That next weekend we all went to Knott's Berry Farms and we saw SANTA! We had a ver good time and the girls rode their first wooden roller coaster with their dad! AWESOME!

Christmas quickly arrived! We went to Sean's Aunt and Uncles for Christmas Eve. The girls played with another little boy and met many other family friends. Christmas morning was WOW! There were so many presents left by Santa!! M&S were quite calmer than I had thought they would be. They opened all their presents calmly and spent the day playing with them. Santa brought both of them new bikes and bean bag chairs. Santa brought Sean and I a trampoline! The girls got a lot of clothes and games for their Leap Frog gaming system.

It was quite a good December. It ended with a visit from my best friend and her little boy. The girls had a playmate for the last couple of days. At times it was rough, ensuring everyone was playing fairly with each other, but overall it was pretty good. He was the first guest close to the girls age, and they miss him already!

2013 was such a life changing year. Sean and I started the year with just the two of us, living in New Mexico, just starting the adoption process. We did not even know about M&S. Through the first few months, we learned of our move to California and inquired about these two siblings. Now here we are, starting off 2014 as a big, ever learning, family.

Here's to 2014!