Disney 2008

We met my parents at a condo in Orlando and spent the long weekend relaxing and enjoying the attractions. At least, the kids and I did, Jonathan spent most of the time reading. I don't think it was as fun for him.

Friday, my parents, the kids, and I went to Downtown Disney. Rosemary enjoyed the legos...

...and the princesses.



Benjamin and my dad at the condo


Jonathan and Rosemary listened to some music during one of the football games.
On Monday, we went to the Magic Kingdom. We planned on ending the day at Epcot, so we parked there then took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. Since we were there so early, we got to ride in the front of the monorail.





Finally at the park! Rosemary wanted to get going, not take pictures.



Rosemary and I rode Dumbo first.



We saw Pooh while we were eating lunch.

Our lunch.

Ben's first "it's a small world" trip

I realized as I was going through photos that I had some pretty similar ones of Rosemary on small world the past few years.

2006

2007

2008

Pirates of the Caribbean stopped while we were on it. We were in the same place about an hour before they evacuated the ride. We each got a special fastpass for any ride of our choice for the delay. Here are mom, Jonathan, and Rosemary while waiting...

...and Ben, me, and dad.

Jonathan and I used the fastpasses for Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. Here we are at Big Thunder Mountain.

My dad took Rosemary for her first Speedway spin. He used to push the pedals for me when I was little.



Jonathan and Rosemary enjoyed the teacups...

...while Ben (who spent most of the day tucked in his stroller) and I watched from the side.

We wrapped up the day with a carosel ride.

On our way out, Rosemary tried to pull out the sword.

The castle was decorated for the Very Merry Christmas Party and was absolutely beautiful. We wore ourselves out, but had a great day.

Ben at 4 Months

Ben hit 4 months yesterday. We go on Wednesday for his 4 month check up so I'll post stats once I get those.

New this month is fingersucking (as seen in the photo above). He's taken to sucking on his index and middle fingers on his left hand and nothing else seems to have the same soothing powers. We're working on transfering him to a pacifier, but it's not working.

Ben's finding his voice now, making quite a few cooing and squeaking noises. It's definitely not a cry. Just sounds like he's trying to tell us about his day. He's also started laughing and big sis is the one who can get him to laugh the most. He really finds Rosemary interesting.

Ben's still sleeping great and is doing wonderful at naptime--taking about a 3 hour nap everyday at about the same time as Rosemary. I love this kid. Couldn't ask for a better boy!

She gets it honest

A few posts ago, I posted a picture of Rosemary in a tree in our front yard. And here's her tree climbing teacher.

Mommy, look! Who's up there?

It's Jonathan up in the tree fixing the swing, of course.

Wrapped around a limb. Crazy man.

Stepping Stones Parade

Rosemary's preschool had a little parade of all the kids dressed up on Thursday. Parade here is used very loosely, essentially the kids just walked in a circle...twice. But that was pretty good for four year olds and younger.

Ben and I waited outside in the cold for the parade to start. Jonathan couldn't make it so I attempted to record it on video and take photos at the same time. It was interesting. And that perhaps explains the photos below. They're not that great, but not too bad either.

Rosemary was not in her best of moods. I think it was a combination of being up late the night before and the candy. She's usually pretty cheery and not one to always have to be with mommy. Despite the fussiness, I think she did a great job.

Walking around with one of the teachers. (Hi, Lark! Totally didn't realize you were in the shot when I took this.)

Saying hi to mom and Baby Ben.

Her classmates

(Well, some of them, at least Rosemary wasn't the only one crying).

Afterwards, we went through the pumpkin patch one last time.

Rosemary's favorite new dog. We let her watch a Charlie Brown show last week and she really seemed to like Snoopy.

Fall Festival

Wednesday night we went to Harvest's Fall Festival. During that week, Rosemary had seen Brian working on getting the room ready for the event and was very excited to actually be going. Jonathan went right to the church from work so I got to get the kids ready on my own. That was an adventure!

First, I needed to finish the pie for the pie competition. I was making a peanut butter and hot fudge pie and Rosemary wanted to help. She came over with her little chair and stood between me and the counter. She then proceeded to sneeze...on the pie. So here was my dilemma--take the pie and likely no one would know but potentially give a number of people at church a cold, or just leave it at home. We left it at home.

Rosemary got to lick the coolwhip bowl. That was just the start of the sweets for the night.

After I finished the pie, I put it in the fridge then went to get the kids ready. As I was putting Rosemary's shirt on, she pulled off one of the sleeves so I ended up just safety pinning it on for the night. Then I got Ben ready.

Here they are!

Buzz Lightyear and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl

She looked really cute and I think she liked the costume. I'm so happy it turned out okay. We made the pants out of an old pair she had last year and just hot glued the cow print on, I found the shirt at a consignment store and added the yellow felt and yarn, I had the hat from an event at UF Housing, Rosemary helped make her belt buckle, then I found the shoes at Ross and she can wear those other places. Besides the shoes, her whole outfit was less than $5.


Buzz Lightyear was easy to make too. Ben had a longsleeve white onesie that I just added the felt to. His cost about $1.

Jessie waiting for the evening to kick off.

Me and Buzz

Rosemary just kinda skipped the games and went right for the prizes.

Her favorite spot of the night. She would keep going back for another heart on her cheek.

Bam Bam (Evan), Jessie, and Deena (Jen's mom) at one of the games

Jon Breman brought his tractor and trailer out for a hayride around the neighborhood. It was cold!

Rosemary loved the ride. As we were getting out she said, I want to go again!

A weekend of illness

Jonathan had Friday off of work to celebrate UF's homecoming. Becky, Steve, and Abby were supposed to come visit, but that morning Rosemary got really fussy, wouldn't eat lunch, then threw up. Such fun. I took her temperature (with the promise of a popsicle afterwards) and it was over 100. She got some Tylenol and by lunch on Saturday was back to normal. Unfortunately, by that time, Ben and I were fighting colds. We were bummed we didn't get to hang out with our friends.

In other news, Rosemary started calling me "Mama" this weekend. I've always been "Mom" or "Mommy" so I'm not sure where "Mama" came from, but it sounds sweet.

Also on Saturday, Ben started laughing. It was so adorable. Rosemary was fake laughing at dinner and it was cracking Ben up. She kept saying, "Laugh, Baby Ben. Laugh!"


Jonathan and Rosemary took advantage of the nice weather on Saturday and went outside to climb trees. Rosemary's a pretty fearless tree climber. Hmm...wonder which one of us she gets that from.

Pumpkin Patch

Rosemary's preschool has a pumpkin patch. It's really cute and a lot of fun, but almost impossible to bypass when I pick her up when school is out. Not only are there lots of pumpkins, but there's a bounce house and Rosemary wants to jump in it everyday before we head home.

I wanted to get a pic of the kids together, but Rosemary was off and in the bounce house before I could get Ben out of the stroller. At least she sat for the shot below!

Looks like he's mid-roll

This is so much fun!

The guys

Check out these handsome guys.