Disneyland and California Adventures!

For Christmas we decided our big gift was going to be a trip to Disneyland. The kids had never been, and it had been too long for Mikelle and Bobby. We went the beginning of February, and had such a great time! The kids loved it. We had rain and hail one day, but we still managed to have fun. These are the mouse ears the kids chose. Jackson was all excited because he could wear it while playing Lego Pirates with Bobby. And hers was perfect because we call her princess anyways.

The carousel was a favorite. We went on the one at Disneyland and California Adventures multiple times.

Brooklyn loved Dumbo! We were afraid she might not like the rides, but she loved them all, except Pirates and the haunted mansion! She covered her face with her blanket for those rides! Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was her favorite!

The kids also loved the benches outside the park! We are easily amused, but they are super cute, you have to admit!

One of the best pictures, ever! She loved the rides that go up and down.

Jackson also had a great time. He went on all the rides his height would allow. He did Space Mountain multiple times and loved the Matterhorn, mostly because of the abominable snowman! He was bummed he was too short for Indiana, but next time! The cars racers were his favorite.

Another great picture. It was taken just before he fell off his seat! Those ladybugs twirl so fast!

Jacskon got picked for Jedi training. He did such a great job, and had so much fun. He fought Darth Vader, and even got to force push the storm troopers. This was Bobby's favorite part! The whole program was very well done, and it was hilarious.

Brooklyn was not as impressed. Darth Maul got up in her face, and you've never seen her climb over Mikelle so fast! It was cool to see him up close though.

The typical picture everyone must get! Brooklyn's not asleep, she's just trying to keep the sun out of her eyes! Overall it was a great trip. We rode every ride that was open that the kids could go on, and even Bobby got to ride a few "big kid"rides by himself! Beside the weather, we couldn't have asked for a better time to go. The crowds weren't too bad and the kids were real troopers. They are already asking when we can go back!

The one thing we were surprised with, was that the kids didn't want to see the characters. Brooklyn saw Pooh and Minnie, if Mikelle went with her, and Jax saw Mickey, but only with Mikelle being right there. We said hi to all the ones we saw, from a distance! At least there was more time for rides!

Winter Fun!

Since we don't have much of a winter per se, we take what we can get! For Christmas, Kristin and her boyfriend brought an ice chest of snow! It was so fun for the kids. They loved it! And when it was gone, they were soo sad.

We mostly let the kids play, but Papa, Mikelle's dad, had to defend himself since Brooklyn kept throwing snowballs at him! She thought it was so funny.

 

And of course, Logan couldn't miss all the fun. The boys teamed up against Kristin and Grandma. What's Christmas without a good snowball fight, even in Phoenix!!

Luckily there was also a little snow when we went to Christmas for New Years.

The kids had lots of fun making snow angels. That's about all the snow there was though. Jacskon wanted to go sledding, but maybe next year.



And since he couldn't go sledding,Grandma helped him with the next best thing, a snowman! It is a mini snowman, but Jackson loved it all the same.

Poor little Valley kids were freezing, but they still couldn't get enough!

Jackson Turns 5!

We also now officially have a 5 year old! We have him all signed up for school next year, and he is so excited!
For his birthday, Jackson wanted a monter party. He helped Mikelle find ideas, and then helped her make them. He loved these hats the second we saw them online, so we had to go out and find stuff to make them. It was so fun to see him get so excited about everything. He especially loved the googly eyes!

And who can't love this picture? I think only for his grandkids!

We let everyone make their own monster cupcake. They were all so creative and the kids loved it!

This project was about the hardest to do.We knew we wanted a monster head, but it took about 10 stores to find a nice big watermelon. Thank you Costco! January isn't the best month for watermelon, just in case you didn't know! Kristin made the face for us, and did a great job. Jackson loved it!

We just did bagel sandwiches, but everyone loved the scary faces! Luckily Mikelle was behind on a Halloween project and had lots of extra teeth around! Sometimes it pays to procastinate:)

We had a lot of other food, but the jello cups were another favorite! Jackson helped make these too. We got lucky and found the table cloth at Walmart, on sale! And napkins and cups to match. Jackson decided to get cups with circles on them though, and make them into eyes! We glued lots of googly eyes to the cups, but also drew some eyes on. Overall, it was a great little family party. The best part was having Jackson so invloved and excited about everything we did.