Wordless Wednesday: Blowing Out the Candles

Housekeeping

Housekeeping is something I have been terrible at lately....with both my actual house and with my blog. So today, I'm trying to take care of a few things and hopefully get back on track.

The first thing I need to take care of is the giveaway that I hosted back before our trip to Disney that I never picked a winner for! I had actually forgotten about it in all the craziness of life until my little package came in the mail with some yummy Ragu sauce and $20:) So I used random.org to pick a winner from the 123 comments, and the winner is Mari! Congrats Mari! I have sent an email and she has 48 hours to respond.

Remember last week when I complained about needing a vacation from my vacation, and then I told you I was only 2/3 unpacked....well, I am still only 2/3 unpacked. I have one suitcase that just will not unpack itself, and I can't seem to make myself do it either. It is actually the suitcase that the kids' clean clothes got put in when we left Disney, along with a ton of other miscellaneous stuff. The miscellaneous stuff is the hardest to unpack because I have to figure out where all of it goes:)

Besides avoiding unpacking, I spent most of last week busy planning a birthday party for Grant and Eli. Grant turned 6 the week we were on vacation and Eli turned 3 yesterday. Instead of trying to cram two parties into two weeks, we had a joint pool party...in the middle of a tropical storm! I don't recommend trying to throw an outside birthday party when the wind is whipping and the rain is coming down in sheets, but that is exactly what we did...and the kids even got to get in the pool for a while when the rain and wind stopped for about an hour:)

Here are just a few pictures from the party:

Can I just tell you how much I love Photoshop. The day was all dreary and dark, but you can hardly tell that from the pictures once I increased the brightness of each photo just a little:)

 The lady at the bakery didn't quite get my vision for the boys' birthday cakes. I was thinking more clean and modern to go with the fun stripes and polka dots that were in the invites and other party decorations...she was apparently inspired by our weather. I ended up adding the gumballs around the edges of the cakes to add a little bit of fun and color. It worked out great and the kiddos loved that they got a piece {or two} of gum with their slice of cake:)

Grant and Eli both had a great time at their party and Eli even got the "big red blue bike" that he has been wanting for the past two months:)

A Hidden Mickey

Walt Disney World Recap: Favorites

Favorite Family Picture:

 This was taken at the Polynessian after the really fun and yummy Luau!

*****

Favorite Photo Op:

 The Sword in the Stone is such a fun photo especially for boys! My boys watched the movie on the way to Disney World so they would know what this was when we got there:)

*****

Favorite Secret Challenge:

 See that paint brush in Henry's hand....there are few of those hidden on Tom Sawyer's Island and if you find one the raft driver will give you a special treat! It was great fun for the boys to search the island looking for paint brushes, and the extra fast passes to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain were really nice too!

*****

Favorite Parade:

 Parades at Disney are awesome, but the Electrical Parade is by far the best. The kids eyes were so big and bright! Eli's favorite part of the parade was seeing Goofy driving one of the floats that looked like a train!

*****

Favorite Table Service Restaurant:

Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge is one of our all time favorites. The food is wonderful and the atmosphere is so much fun for the kiddos. They have stick horse races, bottomless milkshakes...and don't even think about asking for ketchup:)

 *****

Favorite Counter Service Restaurant:

It's really a tie between Pizza Planet in Hollywood Studios and Casey's Corner in Magic Kingdom. Pizza Planet is a blast for the kids and we actually went there twice. The hot dogs at Casey's Corner are really good...and the bleachers set up in the dining area are so fun! Plus they have Cracker Jack's for dessert, how fun is that!?!

 *****

Favorite Snack Plan Snack:

 This is a cookie ice cream sandwich from the Bakery on Main Street in Magic Kingdom. The first day we were at Magic Kingdom, Jason saw someone eating this and we spend a while trying to figure out where it came from so we could get one too! It is ginourmous and so good...and it counted as a snack on our meal plan!

*****

Favorite Snack {not on the snack plan}:

 Seriously how cute is this apple! It didn't count as a snack on our plan, but I couldn't leave Disney without getting one! I grabbed this one on our last day at the candy store in Hollywood Studios, and brought it home with me as a little souvenir.

*****

Favorite Birthday Celebration:

 We celebrated Grant's birthday at Whispering Canyon Cafe and it was so much fun. They brought out this giant cupcake for him and then the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday to him:)

*****

Favorite Breakfast Food:

 Everything at the breakfast buffet at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios was yummy, but you just can't beat the Mickey Waffles! Something about being in the shape of Mickey's head just makes food taste better!

*****

Favorite Places to Play:

The kids LOVE the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Set in Hollywood Studios! It is the perfect place for them to burn off some extra energy!

 My boys also had a great time digging around in the Dinosaur Boneyard at Animal Kingdom. I think this was probably their favorite part of Animal Kingdom...and mine too! It was nice and shady and the kiddos could entertain themselves for hours in the pebbles/sand/Texas Grits!

*****

Favorite Place to Get Wet:

 The jumping fountains at Epcot are always a hit with the kiddos. Last time we did more watching, but this time the kids really played in the fountains and got pretty wet...which was fine since it was over 90 degrees when we were there!

I have a few more favorites and some more fun pictures to share with you, but this post has gotten way too long and blogger is taking forever to load my pictures!  Check back tomorrow for a few more fun shots and even a hidden Mickey:)

The Vacation Aftermath

We're back! Well, actually we've been back for a few days, but it has taken me that long to recover:) Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like they need another vacation when they get home from their real vacation! We went non-stop {except for one afternoon nap} for 8 days at Walt Disney World, and let me just tell you it is exhausting! We saw almost everything {we skipped a few things at Animal Kingdom}, and we rode every ride at all 4 parks at least once...we rode some 5 times:)

Since we've been home...

*I've been trying to catch up on my sleep*

*I've unpacked 2/3 of our suitcases*

*I 've been busy washing, folding, and putting away loads and loads of laundry*

*I've watched way too many hours of reality tv on the dvr...thank you HGTV*

*I've gone shopping to buy groceries for our empty shelves and fridge*

*I've been stressing out about a birthday party that needs to be planned in less than 5 days*

One thing I haven't done is edit the 347 pictures that I took while we were gone! So I'll just share two shots with you today and hopefully in the next few days I will find the time to edit them and share a few more:)

I want to say a great big THANK YOU to all my wonderful blog friends who did guest posts for me last week! If you missed any of their amazing guest posts, please go back and check them out and leave some comment love:)

Mon:  Felt Napkin Rings by Paula from Sweet Pea

Tues: Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe by Nichol from KiddiesCorner Deals

Wed: Photography Tips by Liz from Sugarplum Creations

Thurs: Baked Zucchini Bites by Amanda from Serenity Now

Fri: Card Making by Kelli from Outside My Kitchen Window

Sat: Sausage Egg Casserole by Yanet from 3 Sunkissed Boys

Sun: Pumpkin Bread by JoAnna from This Southern Girls Nest