Disneyland!! Whew! Whew!

For years Scott and I have wanted to take our kids to Disneyland and this year on Cecilia's birthday we told them we had planned a trip to Disneyland for the first week of October. They were so excited and so were we.  We made a Mickey Mouse countdown chain and it felt like it went on forever! But the day came to load up and go and off we went.

Anna had flown once when she was 2 1/2 and Cecilia had traveled with Scott and I to the Fiesta Bowl when she was 6 months old, so they were both nervous and excited to fly for what was really the first time they would remember.

The first day we got to California we went to the beach- Anna and Cecilia were in the water nonstop, but Lilly and John were content to stay in the sand and play.

Lilly wanted to be Ariel.

I wanted Lilly to pretend she was being eaten by a shark, but then she told me that's why she wouldn't go into the water.  Whoops! I guess letting them watch "Soul Surfer" before we left wasn't a great idea.

Anna loved body surfing with Scott and I think if we lived closer to the ocean we would have a bonafide "beach-bum" on our hands.

The next day we spent all day at Disneyland and it was more than we had even hoped for.  It was soooo hot-like 105 degrees! but our kids were champs.  They never complained, they went on every ride and we had such a great time. Our favorite thing was "Fantasmic" the show at night along the river-it was awesome! 

The next day was spent at California adventure and I think the temperature got up to 111-yuck!  but again our kids were great and we had such a good time.  We loved the new Cars attraction, California Screamer, and Tower of Terror but Scott's and my favorite ride was Midway Mania-we loved it.

Our kids love rides-even Lilly is an "arms up, all out" rider.  

There is nothing like experiencing Disney with your kids.  It's hard to watch their faces light up when they see their favorite princesses or characters and not want to come back every single year. 

They each got to pick a special toy, both of their grandma's gave them money to spend on the trip and here they are showing off their goods.  Anna got a Bullseye pillow pet.  Cecilia picked a Jasmine doll and Lilly got a Lotso pillow pet, but then changed his name to Carlos.

After three days in the Disneyland parks we spent some more time at the beach and other than Scott locking our keys in the car and losing it for about 2 minutes (I would have to edit anything said during this time)  we really enjoyed our day there.

We spent a day at Sea World in San Diego watching the shows and looking at the aquariums and had a great meal at a place that Scott loves downtown. 

 Our last day we had a late afternoon flight so decided to hit up Universal Studios for a few hours; we had bought a pass that included it, so why not.  We only got to go on a couple of rides, but it was better than sitting in an airport :).

We loved every minute of our vacation and are already planning our next trip.

Happy 9th Birthday Anna!

Anna really wanted a Mad Scientist birthday party for her birthday and I was happy to comply.

Here is the picture I used on her invitation. Her invitation read:

CAUTION!!!

It's a Mad Scientist Birthday Party

for Doctor Anna Erickson

Testing Begins:

Friday September 7th 3:30 pm

Testing Concludes: 5:30 pm

At the Erickson Laboratory

To reserve a spot for an explosive good time please contact Anna's assistant.

Here is the Motley Crew ready for some experiments

I made sure all the kids had protective glasses, covers for their clothes, and the mandatory fake mustache.

I used dry ice in the punch,

filled the cupcakes with pop rocks,

and had a number of experiments.  We made our own ice cream, and slime.  We also did the Mentos in Cola fountains, which the kids loved.

And we got some Liquid Nitrogen (a lot easier to get than anticipated) to freeze some things.  We froze grapes, soda, a tennis ball, some toys and a unexpected item.

  I had put a hot dog in the pointer finger of Scott's glove so that it just looked like his normal hand.  While demonstrating the use of liquid nitrogen Scott repeatedly warned the kids to not let the liquid nitrogen on their skin and then he acted (very poorly) like he had accidentally stuck his finger in the liquid nitrogen and that it was frozen. 

at this point he picked up the hammer and proceeded to smash his "finger"

Anna was mortified.

As were my other girls-they were all pretty traumatized. 

Scott, on the other hand, was nothing short of proud of himself.  

Pretty disgusting!  So although the party was soooo fun with a lot of great activities all my kids will probably remember is that Scott tricked them and they were horrified by his "hot dog finger."

Lilly's first day of preschool!

Her entire life Lilly had helped me take her sisters to school at Miss Heather's preschool.  When Miss Heather decided not to teach this year Lilly wasn't pleased, but I enrolled her at the Boise Cooperative Preschool and she was very excited to start school

She is so... 

so cute!

She made sure I got a picture of her cute backpack.

Here is Lilly with her teacher Miss Staci.

Happy 6th Birthday Cecilia Jo!!

For her 6th birthday Cecilia really wanted a Rock Star birthday party, so for her invitations I took her downtown to "Freak Alley" with a guitar and her personality it was perfect.

This is the picture on her invitation.  The invitation read

"Cecilia is turning 6 so, 

Let's Party Like Rockstars!

Wednesday, August 29th

3:30-5:30

at Cecilia's home

There will be pizza, cake, and a rock'in good time!

To make sure your name is on the guest list, RSVP Cecilia's manager."

She is just so naturally cool.

The other girls wanted in on this photo shoot.

Her birthday was the 3rd day of school so I got to take some rock "star" treats to her class.  I made rice crispy treats shaped like stars and then dipped them into white chocolate and then added sprinkles and sucker sticks--they were a hit.

In Cecilia's kindergarten class, each child's parent for their special birthday day is asked to make a book about their child to be read in class, so I went in and heard Mrs. Cadwell read the book to the class and shared in Cecilia's special birthday.

A Rock Star party she wanted-and a Rock Star party she got complete with cds hung from the ceiling,

A guitar cake,

face painting,

and a stage,

which was used by many!

John and Lilly were ready to rock.

Dane, who I had watched all day because Brennan had gone into labor, was not so ready to rock.

It was a great day topped off with a gift from her mom and dad.  We surprised her, Anna and Lilly with the knowledge that we were going to Disneyland the first week of October.  They were ecstatic!