Jan-Feb

Finally a chance to sit down and write, as brief as it'll be...

It's a Small World - closed for a while

We kicked off the first month of 2014 with a couple of trips to Disneyland to make the most of our annual passes.  They were quick, down-and-back-in-one-day trips where we'd throw the kids in the car before dawn and leave the park in the early afternoon.

It was the first time to attempt it as a small family unit (only 2 adults for the 3 kids now!) and it went surprisingly well.  With ample snacks, a double stroller, and the only things on the agenda being "family fun," we had a pleasant time.

Teacups - a favorite of the girls

Mark and the kids

And as an added bonus, IKEA is on the way home from Disney.  Mark and I enjoy browsing the store, but the kids seem to be in extreme pain at even the thought of stopping there.  We learned the hard way to time those visits carefully, as three tired, hungry, screaming children do not make for the most ideal shopping experience.

On Jan 21st, Elliott turned 1.  We celebrated with a Skylander-themed strawberry cake (the girls'  idea) decorated with naturally colored frosting (using spinach, turmeric, and berries).  The turmeric made the yellow frosting taste strange, so we didn't use much of that, but the rest of it was very good.  Elliott loved it and ate so politely.

Happy 1st Birthday, Elliott!

As a birthday bonus, Elliott began walking that evening - 10 or more steps at a time.  It was a really exciting double milestone day!

Just 12 days later, on Feb 2nd, we celebrated Taylor's 6th birthday!  Since we still didn't really know enough children to make a good birthday party, we got some fun butterfly cupcakes from Sam's Club to share with the girls on her gymnastics team.

We did a "Spa Day" at home with mud masks and cucumber slices for our eyes, fizzy lemon water and crisp apples, a bubble bath, a back massage, and movies.

When we returned to Disneyland the next weekend, we let Taylor go through a salon treatment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  I didn't think I'd ever let my girls do that considering how the bizarre I thought other little girls looked after coming out of there, but we tried to go with a more conservative up-do and with the annual pass discount it wasn't so bad.  Taylor love love loved the chance to have her hair and nails done and a little bit of make-up brushed on and sparkles and a bag of fashion goodies afterward.  For her, it was definitely the highlight of her birthday celebrations.

The rest of February involved lots of exercise on the rowing machine for Mark (a huge Christmas/anniversary/birthday/etc gift), many more Fitbit steps for Andrea (Disneyland really helped with that!), the introduction of an art curriculum into homeschool, and a trip to Colton, CA to see my uncle and his family.  The girls begged to stay longer with my relatives, as they played Hide-and-Seek for about 4 hours straight the day we were there.