Disney in pictures

Just a few of the 800+ pictures we took on our Disney trip...

We stumbled upon Stitch as soon as we got to Epcot on Day 1



Ben and Bruce (Ella would not even go in this room - and she STILL talks about not wanting to see Bruce!)



Ben vs. the fountain at the Moroccan pavilion - I go inside for one minute, and come out to a soaking wet kid! He still says that this is his favorite part of the trip, although he was a little upset at first...



Taking a round out of the drums in the World Showcase at Epcot





Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival was on - every character you can think of, made out of flowers/plants



The centrepiece of Magic Kingdom - Cinderella's castle!



Aladdin & Jasmine in Magic Kingdom; Ella was so cute - she would not let go of Jasmine's hand, even while she was autographing her book!



HUGE carousel



There were big hugs for Buzz & Woody in Hollywood Studio's Pixar Place:



Lightning & Mater at Hollywood Studios



Hugging Mickey at Donald's Safari Breakfast (in Animal Kingdom)



Hanging with a band outside of Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom:



At Lilo & Stitch's character breakfast



Meeting Snow White - Ben was so shy, he wouldn't even look at her. (Gord liked looking at her though!)



Waiting in line...

Sigh.

My gosh, the world can be depressing. I've been feeling a little bit down this week, and then I see this on Oprah's site. And this (which includes a video) on Huffington Post. Sad. Depressing. Makes me want to ramp up my green habits a little bit more.

Seriously, whales with breast cancer?

I need to buy some more cloth bags...

Where does the time go?

Ruby & Fiona are 3 today...HAPPY BIRTHDAY you sweet, smart, funny girls! We will call you later today because we want to hear about all the fun you had today!

We miss you all terribly - we are so overdue for a visit, aren't we?

Or how 'bout this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIUZSYRhXNk

If you like dogs,

You'll like this video:

Bizkit

I teared up, I was laughing so hard!

Tales from the toilette

If you were standing outside our bathroom this morning, you would have heard the following:

“Ben, get your hands out of your pants!”
“But Mom, I like to scratch my BUTT!”

Repenting

What can I say? I keep meaning to blog…lots of stuff to blog about…but I am never in the mood when I get home at night, and now there’s just so much to write about that I can’t motivate myself. Where do I start? How do I remember all the details? Aaaaaahhhhh!

Baby steps…baby steps…one thing at a time…this could get random and messy…maybe I’ll do separate blog posts…here they come!

A visit to the zoo!

During the warm weather we had a few weeks ago, the zoo called to us…little did we know how incredibly enjoyable the zoo can be in the winter! The animals were active – the monkeys were crazy, the leopards and tigers were prowling, the squirrels and lemurs were out and about, the snakes were slithering up and down the trees, the crocodiles actually MOVED… The camels were enjoying the weather too – and the zoo staff took one of them for a walk! Unfortunately, Ben and I missed it, as we were taking a bathroom break, but Gord, Ella and Grandma Susan got to see it! And they had a better view than the poor staff member following the camel, carrying a huge shovel!

And although this is a family-friendly blog, I do have to report that quite a few animals were very…uh…affectionate? frisky? carnal?...during our visit. What it is about us that brings this out in them, I don’t know. But you’ve gotta wonder… tortoises and guinea pigs getting busy (not with each other)…a goat that wanted to make out with my hand, complete with weird sounds…a spraying male leopard…monkeys and gibbons showing me their “parts”…why us? 

It was just a glorious visit to the zoo – both animal-wise (not the animal sex part though) and weather-wise – the kids wore their snow gear, and were great sports about it – they climbed snow piles and played at the playground. But I didn’t even wear mittens! That’s the way to enjoy the zoo in the winter!





THE guinea pigs:

The Big 5

What to say about Ben’s 5th birthday…I don’t know where to start. Ben was very excited about his birthday – excited to have cake and open presents. I was up early on his birthday to make him pancakes (his favorite) and bacon. He went to daycare as usual, and when we got home that night, I told him he could have whatever he wanted for supper. His choice? Peanut butter & jam. Yep, he REALLY went out on a limb with that one! Ben got a Nintendo DS for his birthday and a game for it, as well as some great gifts from Ottawa (thanks K, G, R & F!).









Saturday, the 14th, was his birthday party – and he had requested a secret agent party! So I did invitations with the text reversed, so you had to read it in a mirror. And we set up a scavenger hunt, and did a fingerprinting game. The kids had a really good time, and most importantly, so did Ben! Although it was touch and go when he didn’t win the scavenger hunt…he calmed down though, and loved opening up all the presents he was given! A Webkinz, a Build-A-Bear, remote control cars, games, books, clothes, a watch…it was great, and a big thank you to everyone!

Disney on Ice!

We went to see Disney on Ice last week – it was a great show! Ben is in skating lessons, so I thought it would be great for him to see all the skaters. Of course, I teared up a little bit when Mickey and Minnie came out. The kids were in awe, and the show was great – from Mickey & Minnie to Mulan to Pinocchio to Aladdin to The Incredibles!

One of the funniest things of the whole night was the woman dressed as Dory (from Finding Nemo). Dory's eyes were right on the woman's chest...see? (photo by Dan Harper)

Upcoming stuff...

We have tickets to a Moose game on Saturday night…that should be fun! We also have a birthday party earlier that day, so hopefully the kids will be pooped out enough that they’ll be good little Moose fans!
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We are planning a trip to Disneyworld at the end of March…Gord and I are so excited, it’s not even funny. The kids have no idea, and we won’t be telling them anytime soon! Maybe two weeks before we leave, maybe. I just don’t want to have to hear, “Is our trip tomorrow? When is our trip? When are we going?...”

Random funnies

Fee fie fo fum
I smell a daddy, a mommy, and a little sister,
YUM YUM!
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Ella likes to do your makeup…she was painting me with (imaginary) makeup and kept telling me “You’re so beautiful!” And then she decided that we were tigers…pretty tigers!
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A couple of weeks ago, we went toboganning at a pond near our house. We took the dog too, and she was tearing around like a crazed maniac – which is good, ‘cause it makes her very tired! Anyways, she ended up clobbering into the kids on their way down the hill, and needless to say, we all came home. Ben isn’t too traumatized though, which is good…he was asking to go again the next day, but without Charlie!

Madagascar morning:

Ben climbed into bed with me a couple days ago, and started softly talking. I couldn't make it out at first, but about 3 lines in, I figured out what he was saying:

"I like to move it, move it,
You like to move it, move it,
He likes to move it, move it,
We like to... MOVE IT!"

"Which one of you is attracted to me?

"Seriously, call first!"

Utter randomness:

"What tha hett?" - What the heck? She gets this from her big brother (only the beginning, I'm sure!) and will say this when something doesn't go the way she thought it would. At least she's clear on the context!

"Anowa bear" - polar bear, although I think the true translation would be "granola bear"

Ella is doing pretty good on the talking front. She will talk and talk and talk, sometimes you really have to pay attention to understand her, but there isn't much that we don't understand these days.

I'm really craving a Starbucks right now. Bad, bad, bad.

Gord really loves his new tv. Or the gargantuan monster, as I like to call it. We've ordered a shelf thing from IKEA to house all the assorted crap we have to hook up to it, and I ordered a few other things, to make the shipping worthwhile (like I need an excuse!). Hopefully it will get here soon and we can set up the living room/dining room properly! Then we will post pictures of the finished product...

Ben is 5 years old in 6 days. I know it's inevitable, but I just can't help but want time to just stop so that I can catch my breath. Oy.

An Ella story

This morning, we were having a family bathroom session (less Gord) and Ella decided that she needed a kleenex to blow her nose. So she balls it all up and holds it to her nose, and makes a loud, gravelly honking noise with her throat. She looks at me and says, "Mommy, my nose farted!"

Random picture post!

Ben modelling Daddy's knee pads - he was ready to help!


Sliding down a hill - he squealed with delight!


Getting ready to throw this at mommy:


All Ella wanted to do was have Grandma Joan pull her in the sled. And like a good Grandma, she did!


Tromping through the snow:

He finally decided to pose for me

As promised...

Wow. Two posts in a day? I think I'm setting the bar too high...

At my company's Christmas party, waiting for the swings to start swingin'!

Eating popcorn, waiting for his turn on the swings:

Ella eating popcorn:


Christmas Eve, surrounded by all the presents


Christmas morning - seriously, what a pile of presents!


Checking out the loot from his stocking:


It's "Wall-Eeeeee"


The only thing Ben wanted from Santa - a hovercraft!


A magnadoodle was on Ella's list:


Awwwwww:


A cool action shot, the lace in motion!


Playing on boxing day:


A funny shot of Charlie


Hot chocolate mustaches...


...or goatees


And now, the floor (in progress):

Shame on us

We are horrible, horrible bloggers, aren't we? I honestly think, almost every day, that I should blog something. And then I forget about whatever blog-worthy happening it was that made me think about it. I got a journal in my stocking at Christmas for this very reason. But I haven't pulled it out yet. And now we're just so out of practice blogging, it's hard to get into it.



I will try harder.



Our home renovations are coming along, albeit pretty slowly. Our walls are out, and hardwoods are about 3/4 done. But now we're getting to the more tenuous areas - against the walls where we can't use the nailer and therefore everything has to be nailed in by hand, around registers and corners, etc. And then we have the hallway to do, which will also be very manual. But it's looking awesome! And hopefully now that Charlie's nails are cut, it will be that way for a little longer. Lesson learned!



Ben is getting pretty excited about his birthday - MY BABY IS GOING TO BE FIVE! How did I become the mom of a 5 year old? Oy. He asks how long until his birthday (it's 31 sleeps...), he's thinking about who he wants to invite, and what he wants to do (play fun games!). I guess I should send a birthday list to some people...



I registered Ben for skating lessons - it's a parent & child class. So that means that I had to find some skates for myself - Ben got his for Christmas from Grandma Joan and Grandpa Bill. Last week was our first class, and he did alright. They basically practiced standing up on the ice for the whole class! And I was hunched over holding him up. But it was fun, and I didn't even fall once! ;) He's also still taking swimming lessons. He's a bit of a slow learner with this - he doesn't like the water in his eyes, and he doesn't like doing his floats. But, I hope that once he gets it, he really gets it and he'll be a fish!



Ella is...uh...one in a million! She's doing a pretty good job potty-training, about 60% of the time she'll make it. But when she's having a bad day, she really has a bad day. She's stubborn and saucy too...but can be very sweet the next minute! Ella loves to pretend to be a kitty or a puppy or a beaver and her and Ben will play like that for quite a while. Usually there's a mommy and a baby, sometimes a Grandma and a Sid, and when they play beavers it's a daddy beaver and a honey beaver. They also like to play Wordgirl and Captain Huggyface. When Ben and Ella play together, it's very, very cute to experience! She is also taking gymnastics again, which is a great way for her to burn off some energy.



I think that's it, in a nutshell. I should really post some pictures...I'll see if I can do that tonight!

Merry Christmas!

The title says it all...Merry Christmas to all of you! We've had a long day of presents, food, more presents, and more food. And lots of great company! And a nap or two ;)