Annie turns 5!

My sweet Annie Jaye is 5...hard to believe how fast time goes by.  I took this picture before she got on the bus, love having a picture on the day of their birthday.  She is my funny, spunky, crazy kid with the coolest personality.  We love her to pieces!  She loves to play with Jacob and Gwyn, her new American Girl, likes to eat strawberries and cucumbers, and LOVES, LOVES, LOVES all things crafty...she will sit at the table for hours filling out notebooks, drawing, coloring, etc.  Can't imagine our life without her!  She liked having 5 donuts for breakfast:

 I took a birthday treat up to her classroom, she requested cookie cake!

 She had dance class right after school:

 After dinner at home we headed to the American Girl shop to buy her an American Girl for her birthday...she was one happy little girl and has not stopped playing with it!  She has been waiting for this day since Gwyn got hers when she turned 5!

 Her birthday party was a great hit, it was supposed to be a soccer party, but ended up being a party with friends at the pool playground with a soccer piñata and bounce house.  The kids had a great time.

 So many kids...we included all siblings, so there are really only about 15 families, but about 40 kids!

 Annie let the piñata have it!

 Gwyn showed off her softball swing:

 Jacob went to town:

 Another one of Brian's masterpieces:

 Yes, this looks like a  good idea, let's take the piñata stick into the bounce house with 30 kids:

 Jacob had a baseball tournament over the weekend, it was his first kid-pitch games and he did great!  He loved having both sets of grandparents there to watch him:

 Sisters doing what sisters do at the ball park:

 My soccer star, she was determined to score a goal, and she did...just for the other team!

 Gwyn had Kody the class pet for the weekend so we had to document its activities and she had to write about it on Monday...Kody had a busy weekend...two soccer games, 4 baseball games, 3 birthday parties!

 A preview of the Michael Jackson wig that Jacob will be wearing on Annie for Halloween:

 My sweet Gwyn:

 Love my boy!

 All 3 loving having their picture taken before the bus:

 Sweet sisters, Annie wanted her picture taken just with Gwyn...and I had someone tell me that they saw Gwyn walk Annie to class, and then she gave her a hug before she went back to her class.  Such sweet sisters!

 I cleaned out the craft cabinets yesterday and found this note that Gwyn had written...Annie and Jacob are bossy! Love it!

 Gwyn drew our family in sidewalk chalk:

 School pictures came in, love my kiddos and their precious smiles!

Here are a few videos from the week:





Was super excited to get Jacob's first at bat as lead off against kid pitch (first time he has ever hit off a 9 yr old kid) on video, and it was an awesome hit!!

Disney World!!

There are 97 pictures in this post...the pictures say it all.  We had an "epic" trip to Disney World with the kids.  We dragged Jason along, who I think had a great time as well.  It was so much fun, the kids were great, they loved it (except for Epcot!).  We did Magic Kingdom two days, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot (for 1/2 a day), and even got to see John and Claudia!!  A very fun trip, I'm glad we took it when we did.  One and done, check it off the list.  We will probably go back and do Universal in a few years, but we did absolutely love the Disney experience we had this time!  We surprised the kids, and didn't tell them until the morning we were leaving, here is the video:

Gwyn with her mouse ears on, on the plane ride there:

Brian played the part of a solider during the story of Belle, ha!

Brian and I both think we have pictures when we were kids in these same shackles:

My beautiful princesses, so much fun!

Jacob and Brian on space mountain:

Princesses galore!

I love this picture:

My dragon slayer:

Day 2 on the hair, Gwyn's didn't move an inch, a true testament to her sleeping so still:

Annie, my little firecracker, her hair did move a bit (not much), but is also a testament to her sleeping like a helicopter...you always draw the short straw if you have to sleep with her!

Animal Kingdom was Gwyn's favorite:

We did a boat ride, fireworks on the lake in front of Magic Kingdom - mine, Brian's and Jason's favorite moment of the trip!

Off to Hollywood Studios...Jacob's favorite place:

Playing at the beach of the lake by the hotel:

A morning character breakfast before hitting Epcot (and then back to Magic Kingdom):

Love this picture:

Epcot, at least we can say that we've been here and we have our ball picture, ha!

Brian and his buddy John: