Rain, Rain, Go Away

Having a stand-off with Ashlyn over the bubble lawn mower.

This last week, it has been raining, raining, and raining some more.  And it doesn't let up in the forecast.  I finally saw Hunger Games, and was very pleased with the end result.  Noah turned 2 this week.  How did he get so big?  Here's some other things going on:

I have been checking THIS website almost everyday for hints and cute stuff.

THIS is happening this weekend.  I always love these times.

The above means that some of THESE will be coming out of my kitchen on Sunday morning.  Kennedy has been asking if it's Sunday everyday.

I want one of THESE!  Seriously, how cute are they?

Have you heard about THIS??  I have been waiting for this day all my life.

Thank You Notes

Dear Poison Control,
Thank you for being there.  Thank you for being calm and efficient.  Thank you for being fast and telling me that the Ajax that Noah ate while I was in the shower was not corrosive and would not hurt him.  Thank you for stopping my panic.  And for being right.
Grateful mommy

Dear Disney Channel,
Thank you for giving me time to take a shower every morning (even though apparently Noah thinks that Ajax is more ineteresting).  Thank you for having shows that aren't annoying and that I'm actually ok with my kids watching.  Except Chuggington.  I'd be ok if that show fell off the face of the earth.
Clean lady

Dear Jesse and Kaisa,
Thank you so much for coming to see us next week!  We are so excited to have visitors and to show off our beautiful coast line!
Hostess with the mostess

Dear Sun,
Thank you for shining through the fog today!  The fog has been so dense and so present for so long that I was wondering if I would ever see the sun before 1:00 again.
Light lover

Dear Harry Potter,
Thank you for being so awesome that even though I started reading the whole series again for the umpteenth time, I still have a hard time putting the books down.
Nerdy woman

Dear Cindy,
Thanks for hooking me up with so much cheap and amazing fruit lately!  I got 6 cups of blackberries for free by picking them myself, and now I'm getting 10 pounds of peaches for a whopping $1 because you're willing to drive to Harry & David to get them.  Jam, here I come!
Scone maker

Disney Hats

We all tried on a lot of hats at Disneyland since they are plentiful in the shops.  I have some Mickey mouse ears with a graduation hat on them from my senior trip to DisneyWorld with my family, and Brett and I have a set of bride and groom ones.  I had to buy Kennedy a hat, so we tried several on.  First up is pirate Goofy.  Christine ended up buying these and wearing them around.

Next up: Wyatt in the Sorcerer's Apprentice hat.

Here comes Kennedy as Minnie Mouse.  And you can see Christine sporting the pirate Goofy look.

Here are Kennedy and Wyatt in the hats that we bought for them.  I wanted this one because her name is embroidered on the back.  And of course Wyatt has his name on his hat too.

While we were waiting for the hats to be embroidered my dad found a Grumpy hat that we all thought was pretty funny.

The Disney Experience

Saturday was Kennedy's first experience with Disneyland.  I can't definitively say that she had fun, but I don't think she didn't. :) She had some nap issues and was really tired, but she was a trooper and let us have a lot of fun.  She was tired even when we got there since it was nap time.

Wyatt on the other hand was excited and ready to go!  He was a smiley boy in his cute Tigger outfit while we waited for grandpa to come back with tickets.

Here's grandpa with Kennedy and Wyatt at the entrance to Disneyland.  We had to get a picture with the Mickey flowers.  But by this point we were ready to go get on some rides.

First stop: Dumbo.  We didn't want the line to get too long, and we only had to wait about 30 minutes, which was great.

Kennedy had a good time with the air blowing in her face just like I knew she would.  She loves wind and liked the wind that was in her face during the ride.

After that we headed down to Splash Mountain, but it broke down on us twice during the day, so some people didn't get to ride it.  We of course went on all of the big rides: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion.  After the lights came back up in the elevator going down, Kennedy started clapping.  I think she liked Haunted Mansion best out of all the rides she went on.  Here is an appropriately scared but clapping picture in the elevator.

She finally fell asleep right before we got in line for Pirates.  Poor Brett was tired from carrying her around, and she was exhausted too.

We weren't able to do as much as we would have liked - I didn't realize how much having kids slows you down at a place like that.  But we had a great time nonetheless!  Considering that we went on a plane and to Knott's Berry Farm the day before and didn't get home until almost midnight that night, Kennedy was great.  And I think she had as much fun as a 10 month old can have at Disneyland.  I certainly loved watching her there and can't wait to take her back!

The Happiest Place on Earth

And so it is.  I love Disneyland and DisneyWorld.  I am so excited to take Kennedy for the first time on Saturday!  We are going to have a whirlwind trip to California, but it's going to be fun.  We're going to Knott's Berry Farm and we are going to partake of their fabulous fried chicken dinner.  It has several fattening and delicious courses with your fill of wonderful mini biscuits.  Of course we are going to go to Disneyland and take Kennedy on Dumbo, eat free fruit from Tomorrowland, and just have a great time.  We have to go on all of  my favorite rides, and introduce Kennedy to Pirates and Haunted Mansion.  We'll go to the pier and In-N-Out.  It's going to be great!!  I will make sure to post plenty of pictures next week when we get back.

I also just thought I'd make a note about American Idol.  I usually start the season out with a few favorites and then after a few weeks one or two really start to stand out.  Last year David Cook didn't really start to stand out to me until a few weeks into the competition.  But this year I have a clear cut favorite already.

Adam Lambert can wail.  I have several other people that I am rooting for and that I really enjoy listening to, but Adam takes the cake.  He has some serious stage presence, has an incredible voice, and performs better than any of the other contestants.  I don't see any reason why he won't at least be in the final show, if not take the whole thing.