Things They Say Thursday--June 30

     So the other day I was trying to find a summery type dress.  The original plan was for me just to go out shopping by myself, but it ended up being that I needed to take Noah with me.  Anyway, I had found this dress that I liked online and decided that I would go to the store and try it on, with fingers crossed that I would like it.  When I tried it on Noah said, "You look like a princess!"  Aww, it was so cute and sweet.  But as it turns out I loved the top, but for some reason the bottom was not working for me.  Just my luck.

And Were Back...

     Whew...I love going on vacation, but sometimes it just feels good to be back home.  We had a blast on our vacation with so many things to do and see.   So I don't overwhelm blogger, I will post them in different installments.  Up first was our day at Hollywood Studios Orlando.  We got in super late on Friday night and ended up getting a later start than what we hoped, but in the end it all worked out and we spent the entire day at the park.  The kids had such a great time there.  A piece of advice if you are planning a trip to Disney and go to Hollywood Studios, try to get as many character signatures there as you can.  The lines tend to be much shorter and the characters more readily available than at Magic Kingdom.  And for more advice, I usually plan out what days we are going to do what prior to leaving for a trip, but not much further than that.  This time I found some great sights here and here (multiple links within each) that helped me to maximize my time at each of the parks.  Two of the greatest recommendations for us was getting the fastpasses for Toy Story Mania first thing in the morning and utilizing the child swap for rides that we all wanted to go on, but Noah was still a little too short for.

Outside the Woody and Buzz character greeting.

Inside Buzz's spaceship box while waiting in line.

A little alien fun.

Meeting Woody and Buzz.  They just loved Noah's hat.

Of course we had to get a picture with Lightning McQueen.

On an ant in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids Adventure."

Taking a little break.

After a long wait they enjoyed a little dance with Phineas and Ferb.

Mike Wazowski.

Green Army Man.

Leo from Little Einsteins.

Handy Manny.

Family pic with Sorcerer Mickey.

Noah had a nice little talk with Snow White before taking a picture with her.

Mr. Incredible and Frozone.

The whole gang.

Things They Say Thursday--June 23

     Here's a little convo. that Noah and I had one night when I was trying to convince him he did not have to take a bath.  Yes, I said he did not have to take a bath.  You see normally we do bath night every night, especially during the summer to get off all the sunscreen, but this night we were at a friend's house and ate dinner late pushing back the rest of the evening routine.  On to the convo.:

Noah:  I'm stinky, I need to take a bath.
Me:  I think tonight we are just going to get PJs on, read a book, and go to sleep.
Noah:  I'm stinky.  I have toe jam, so I'm stinky.
Me:  Really?  Well, I think we are still going to skip the bath tonight.  If you want, in the morning you can take a bath.
Noah:  I want a bath!!!  I don't want to go to bed!!!  {both said screaming and between tears}
Me:  I'm sorry, but that is just the way it is for tonight.  {he proceeds to head upstairs to go potty and get his pjs on} 

     I just love a conversation that involves the logic of a three year old {especially when I use the same logic to get him to do the same thing}.  Man, they really do pick up on these things.

Things They Say Thursday--June 16

     One of Noah's favorite past-times lately has been doing puzzles, especially the Madagascar puzzle.  He wakes up in the morning and the first words out of his mouth are:  "come on Daddy, let's go downstairs so I can do my puzzle."  Well, the other day we got the whole stack of puzzles down for him and he went from one to another without stopping.  But while he was putting one of them together, he stops and says:  "Mom, you're a silly goober." 

Noah and his stack of puzzles. {which he can do all of them}

Just trying to get that last piece in there.

Nascar, baby!!!

     It wasn't the Sprint/Nextel Cup, but Mike and I did take advantage of the opportunity to watch the Nascar trucks out at the Kansas Speedway.  I used to be really good at following Nascar {even have been to Talladega and California Speedway}, but it seems like recently there is too much going on to keep up with it.  And even though it was only the trucks, I still got the same rush at the beginning of the race.  One thing I did miss was the "boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racing."  There is something about that line that just solidifies it as Nascar.  Anyway, it was a good race and one of the locals {Clint Bowyer} won.   If I had a bucket list, I would say that I can cross one item off. 

These are the Army Hummers that they used during the driver introductions.
Not sure if it was actually the drivers or just representatives that were taken around the track.

Soldiers coming out for the pre-race ceremonies.

The trucks lined up pre-race.

Just before they crossed the finish line.

A little victory spin.

Things They Say Thursday--June 9

     It's quite normal for little girls to dream and talk about their wedding day and who they will marry, but a little less common for boys.  We were watching something on t.v. where there was a wedding and it sparked a conversation about who Noah was going to marry.  It went like this:

Noah:  Mom, I'm going to marry Eli.
Me:  Oh, well that may be okay, but typically boys marry girls who are not related to them.
Noah:  Then I will marry Mikayla.
Me:  Sorry, but that won't work.  Mikayla is your sister which means she is related to you.
Noah:  Oh, okay, then I will marry Ava.
Me:  You can't marry her either.  Ava is your cousin.
Noah:  Fine, then I will marry Rikai.
Me:  {enter sigh of relief}  That would be fine.  But you don't have to decide now, you have plenty of time to find some one you want to marry.

I'm sure this won't be the las time we have a talk similar to this, but it was just so cute the way the exchange went back and forth.  There seemed to be a little sadness with each one that I said he could not marry, but in the end he walked away as happy as could be.

Missing My Little Girl

     On Memorial Day Mikayla flew with my mom down to Florida.  It has been really quiet around here and we are missing her lots{although I'm not sure the feeling is mutual}.  While she is busy spending time shopping, out by the pool, and at the beach, we are enjoying a little one on one time with Noah.  Soon enough we will enjoy the sunshine and beach with her and she will {most likely unwillingly} come home.  Below is an example of the fun you have when the built in playmate of a sibling is not here {and yes that means parent involvement is required}.

3, Really???

    My little guy turned three a few weeks ago.  Is that right?  It seems so hard to believe that he could already be three.  Time has flown by so fast.  Seems like just the other day he looked like this:

And now he has grown into this:

     For his party he wanted a Toy Story 3 party {who would have guessed?}.  Which I think played perfectly since he was turning three.  So I went to work making his invitation.  I got inspiration for the invitation when I came across a site with a Woody origami shirt.  I thought it was a neat idea and would make a nice invitation.  I took the Father's Day shirt template that I used last year and found some coordinating paper and gold stars to complete the invitation.  I did have to create my own cowprint paper for the vest though.

     Since Noah was asking all winter to go swimming, we decided that a pool party would be a perfect venue for his party.  It ended up being a small party and we pretty much had the pool to ourselves.   So overall it was a pretty low key party, but the kids had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave the pool. 

The green alien cookies for the daycare and his preschool.

Blowing out the candles with the daycare.

Opening presents on his birthday.

Mikayla's birthday present for Noah.

Finally, a real Bullseye.

Mack and Lightning McQueen.

The birthday banner.

Woody cowboy shirt and vest cupcakes.

Making sure he gets all the candles.

Opening presents.  This card from my parents plays music which he loves.

Getting ready to hand out goodie bags.  He helped me put them together and kept
asking if it was time so he could have one.

Watching the torpedo in the pool.

These two were deciding if they wanted to dare go under the fountain. {Ava finally did}

Mikayla really wanted me to take a picture of her under the water.