Oh, Christmas Tree!

There is a quiet beauty when decorating a Christmas tree. Everything seems hushed and unhurried--you can simply take your time and decorate as your heart desires. Every ornament and light is strung with care and planning until the end result shines before you and lights up the holidays.

The boys took care of the decorating of the tree this year and I am so happy they did. In the end, we had a magnificent tree that Peyton was proud to have helped set up.

I loved catching Troy and Peyton in action looking for the next perfect spot to hang an ornament. Peyton was very methodical in his approach and did pretty well once he knew to spread out his baubles evenly!

All Hallow's Eve

'Tis the night - the night

Of the grave's delight,

And the warlocks are at their play;

Ye think that without

The wild winds shout,

But no, it is they - it is they.

~Arthur Cleveland Coxe

So, I failed as a Mom last Halloween in the picture department-- these are the only shots I got. In my defense, I really wasn't feeling all that great at the beginning of the night and so I just tarried along behind my little trick or' treating family while they had a blast. This was the closest we got to getting Peyton to smile for the pictures-- he just wanted to go and have a great time!

His costume last year was the easiest to find out of the whole family. He literally just walked into the costume store and within two minutes, had decided that this was what he was going to be--a Disney Car's pit crewman. He couldn't be swayed by anything else, so there you go! :)

Peyton is obviously practicing his evil eye. Are you scared yet?

 I love that Chloe is looking in her treat bucket like 'What did they just put in there?!'

Lylah (dressed as an angel) has a really cute expression on her face too.

Troy decided to dress up as a person who didn't have time to get a costume.

{More sad than scary, really.}

Chloe managed to unwrap about six lollipops before I noticed--here she is enjoying yet another sucker. Sneaky girl! Chloe also happened to be the winner of a 'Sweetest Costume' prize at one house where she got an extra bag of goodies in addition to her treat.

Even though Halloween has long been over, every day Chloe asks to be "Snow White!" In fact, she calls her red sparkly shoes--her "Snow White's" since those were the shoes she was wearing with her costume that night. :)

Pumpkin-Palooza!

Last year was the second year in a row that we've been to the Dallas Arboretum to see their pumpkin display in the month of October. Looks like it's becoming a fun, yearly tradition! 

This last year, a few friends and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out on one of the days that the arboretum offered a story time, music hour, face painting and a petting zoo for the younger set. 

But the main reason we went, of course, was to see the oodles of pumpkins that sprout up in every nook and cranny of those large, spacious grounds.

Chloe was mesmerized by the assortment of pumpkins everywhere. When I gave her a little pumpkin to hold for the pictures, she just beamed!

 There's my sassafrass!

 It was killing Chloe to sit still-- she was just itching to get up and hug every pumpkin!

 There are literally thousands of pumpkins displayed each October at the Dallas Arboretum. I have never seen so many pumpkins in one place in my entire life until I visited this arboretum. 

 There was a fun hay maze last year-- but the girls thought it would be more fun to use it as a balance beam. I guess gymnastics class must have been rubbing off on them!

 Last year, the theme for the grounds was different fairytales involving pumpkins. But they mainly focused on the story of Cinderella. Here we are in her fancy carriage!

 We were being pulled by two stately, leafy horses!

 'What are you?'

 'I think you must be friendly-- let me pet you again to be sure.'

 Chloe loved ♥LOVED♥ loved the petting zoo.

She wanted to hold and pet everything there. They had a pony, two rabbits, several goats, a sheep and a few clucking chickens for good measure!

 So soft!

I can't wait until October to visit the pumpkin patch again!

Will you come with us this time?

Stuck!

One afternoon last October, I kept hearing Chloe whimpering from her room. It wasn't time for her to get up from her nap, so I just stuck to my guns and ignored her. After a while though, curiosity got the better of me so I slowly opened up her door to find her in this predicament .
  

She had flung clothes and diapers willy-nilly all over the floor, put her nightlight on top of her lamp, twisted her curtains into ropes (I imagine to swing from), dislodged her naptime CD from her stereo, used the dresser drawers as stairs, removed her diaper, POOPED on top of the dresser (not pictured----you're welcome) and had lodged herself in the top drawer as seen above.

Her first expression was what I found when I opened the door. She thought I was going to be furious but seeing all that that busy body had done just made me laugh. When she saw me laughing, she began to smile too. Ah, the joys of toddlers. :)

P.S. Her shirt reads: Daddy's little wild child. Can it get any more perfect than that?

See the Sea!

A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly.

                                                                                                                                 ~Lemony Snicket

On September 23rd, 2011-- two days before my hunk-a-burnin'-love's birthday-- we flew into Orlando, Florida, and boarded the Disney Magic Cruise Ship to sail away to the Caribbean Sea.

The first morning we woke up away from land and treading water in the wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, we had breakfast with some of the kids' favorite Disney pals.

I wasn't sure how Peyton and Chloe would react to the characters coming to the table, but they were absolutely ecstatic and excited to talk to, take pictures with, and hug their 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' friends.

 Our server made each of us a napkin hat-- here Chloe is modeling her Minnie Mouse bow.

                                               Peyton rocked his green Peter Pan hat.

Blurry as we are, here Troy and I are with our napkin origami.

Troy was Aladdin, and I was Pocahontas.

But the highlight of the morning came shortly after the boys left to go find the restroom and Chloe's very favorite character came out to visit. We love Minnie Mouse!

Another trip favorite for our stowaways were the Mickey Mouse ice cream bars that they had every night after dinner. They were in a sticky, melty, chocolate/vanilla heaven!

Delicious faces!

"You have pretty eyelashes."

Nearly everywhere we went on board the ship there were endless opportunities to take pictures with the gang. Sometimes we ran into them in the halls, and once we waited in line so we could have pictures with fancy Mickey and Minnie (pictures further below). Also present (which we never seemed to capture) were several Disney Princesses, and even Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

Speaking of origami, napkin hats weren't the only thing that got folded on the ship. Here, our towels were conjured into the shape of an anteater wearing my shades.

Our first official stop and location of our excursion was St. Maartin Island. It was smothered with diamond and jewelry shops, high end fashion wear, fragrances, liquor and cigar stores in a slummy, graffiti ridden, run-down French Quarter-ish looking area. Though we had fun deep sea helmet diving here, we weren't as impressed with the ambiance of this location. Our taxi driver told us that he was, "99% sure that we would be back again." Troy and I had a good laugh later about that one! 

 The yellow lines going into the water belong to our boat. The other hut and boat belong to "the competition".

                                                            Even cloudy, it was beautiful!

 Troy and I enjoyed our little excursion under the sea together, though I must admit-- I was a little trepidacious going under the water at first!

How cute-- we have matching bubbles! :)

This prickly little sponge grabs on to your hand really well.

Troy gave it a good pet, too.

See, no hands!

The guides gave us some bread (bread?!) to feed the fish. Our instructions were to hold our hand low so that they could get our faces in the shot.

It's a little nerve racking feeding the fish-- they have teeth! I had a little nibble taken out of one finger and was pretty shocked. But, it was amazing to be under the sea. Well worth the battle-wound. ;)

 Here's a picture of "The Mickey Mouse boat" which must always be said with exclamation points!!

 'Little Dude, Big Attitude'. Yep, that's about right. Here's the interior of one of our cabins.

Excursion number two: Mountain Biking on Water Island across from the isle of St. Thomas.

The sun was extra brilliant when we posed for this picture. Hence, my watery eyed smile. :)

Troy wasn't so sure about this excursion at first but he was happy in the end that we did it. Once the group set off, he was gone!

I tried to tan on our trip; really, I did. Here I am in my pasty paleness getting ready to bike it down the mountain side through mud and pot holes.

 Our guide stopped us in front of this sign to tell us that the hours posted here are pretty typical of island life. I took a picture because it was just too funny. On the right, it reads: Hours 11-7. Open most days around 11 or 12. Occasionally as early as 9 and sometimes as late as 1 or 2. We close about 6:30 or 7. Occasionally about 4 or 5, and sometimes as late as midnight, or later. On some days, we're not here at all, but lately we've been here alot, unless we're not.

 A baby turtle! Our guide was really excited to see this little guy because turtles are pretty rare on the island and the sight of this slow mover meant that the island was teeming with new life.

 At the end of our bike ride, we ended up on Honeymoon Beach which was man-made by a couple of return G.I.'s after World War II. The water was beautiful and clear, though the sand was a little rocky.

Another view of paradise.

 Our last stop was Disney's own Castaway Cay (that last part is pronounced "key" not "kay"-- it threw me for a loop when I first heard it said aloud!)

From the smiles in the next few pictures, you'd think that Chloe was a beach baby to the core.

Not so.

That girl screamed and fell apart the moment her feet touched sand. She had done the same thing about nine months prior in the dinosaur exhibit at the Dallas museum when I set her in the interactive fossil dig that had tons of sand and brushes. She wanted nothing to do with that sand! I thought maybe she would have gotten over it, but I guess the fear lives on! Here she is giving Donald some love.

 They're both smiling at once? Amazing!

 Once we left the beach (which was a very short-lived foray) the kids had great fun at the splash park.

 That night, they had a 'Pirates IN the Caribbean' Party. They handed out free bandanas and temporary tattoos which the boys donned right away. There was lots of dancing on deck, Mickey zip-lined across the entire ship, and there were even fireworks!

 More Mickey and Minnie action!

 One more for the road.

Besides getting food poisoning (me), we had a really fun time on our excursions and on the cruise in general. We also enjoyed listening to a comedian, a ventriloquist, and several Disney mini-musicals. I can't forget to mention Troy's favorite-- the endless buffets!

 I wonder where in the world we'll go next?! :)