Yeah Disney time again!

 the face says it all!

 Abigail was a different kid traveling this time around....sitting with my ipod chilling out to her music,  she is growing up so fast!!

 this was the edited view,  I got a picture of her when she faced the other way, didn't post that on my blog :)  She got pretty bored waiting on our turn to board the boat

 Yeah!  We were off!

 I love how many times I saw this face!  Can't put a price on that!!

 Don't worry, we are not a bunch of heavy boozers, but we did enjoy our first Bahama  mamma to kick off the beginning of a wonderful vacation with our very dear friends!

 Our favorite party in the world is Disney's Sail Away Party as we leave port!!!  This family gets wild!!

 Abigail drew some attention with her dance moves at the sail away party,  not sure how to handle that yet??  At least it was positive attention and lots of thumbs up from parents who noticed she didn't dance sloppy and wild like most kids, she whipped out a lot of cute moves from her classes.  Thank you DDC :)

 That's my sweet #2 rocking the front of the line of kids as close to the action as she could get!!

 Can't say enough good things about those kids club workers....love them!!!!

 Chloe and Cohen hanging out in Nemo's Reef for little ones

 one thing I love about Disney is people aren't afraid to touch you or your kids,  they hug, and grab them by the hand to show them something or take you to your seat. :)

 Brian being 'king of the world', 10 years married and he still can make me laugh like no one else!

 formal night

 had to show some of these pics,  Chloe and Goofy really did have a blast all week

 pirate night....ahhrrrrrrrrg!!

 The favored and most delicious adult only deck

 The girls running wild on deck 4,  another one of my favorites.  I realize why I love it so much, it's like a massive open front porch like I grew up on.  Only difference it's not looking at mountains it's the beautiful ocean !

 I tried to ask the Bit to strike a normal child pose and she would pout, so I gave in and let her do this instead all week.  What are you going to do?!  She is who she is!

 Ya hay no way!!!  everyone enjoyed getting their pirate on this night!!

 the only cruise line that does fireworks at sea,  so awesome!!!

 The little buccaneer didn't make it to see the fireworks,  too late for Mr. Cohen.

No idea where she found the energy at close to midnight before they started the pounding dance music and lit the deck after the show, but she did and had a blast!

 Sweet and I must say handsome Peter Pan was walking around asking the kids if they had ever heard of him, so funny!

 yeah!  her buddy!

 Forget golf,  Abigail found the club was much more fun to dance with!   So typical!

 

Oddly she wasn't as into my traditional silly hat picture on vacation as she's been in years past!!  he he he!  But I almost enjoyed it more now :)

 Whhoooop whooop!

 A slow and grumpy start following her nap, but I let her sit outside (closely supervised trust me!) and gave her chocolate

 Turtle talk with Crush at dinner was a life saver to keep the kids happy this night

 I only posted 1 but Mr. Brian and Mr. Ryan did a great job of ordering more then one of every entree  and desert all week.  Man did those dads eat!!!!  They look so cute w/ their Mickey Mouse matching Happy Anniversary buttons on their lanyards :)

 I can't tell you what she did to make me laugh like that,  never a dull moment with this woman!!!  Love her!

 "Heyyyyyyy Hey Baby,  I wanna know ooow oow,  if you'll be my girl!!!"

We just got home from an amazing week with our favorite masters of family vacation that is Disney.   We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on the new ship the Disney Dream.  It was a blast of a time and even more so that we got to go with our friends Alisa and Ryan and little Cohen.  It was their 10 yr anniversary last year but they didn't go anywhere so they decided to join us on the celebration cruise.   It was such a good trip and the girls had a blast getting to do the kids club together for the first time.  Chloe made the cut off by 2 weeks to get to enjoy it and the new ship combines all ages in the club so they could be together and independent as they wanted to.  Cohen even got into the fun which was good for him who usually  hates to be away from his mom, by the end of the week he went in happy and didn't look back.  Even if we did have to start calling it VBS to get him excited.  Alisa was ecstatic to get some time w/ Ryan alone.  And we were too.  In true Brian fashion, he had done his homework on the ship and found us a wonderful deck just for adults to hang out on that not many people knew about.  We often had it mostly to ourselves.   It was a great balance of couple time and kids time.   Chloe even made me tear up a time or 2 over her big gut laugh when she would see Mickey Mouse and scream in delight.  Her and Goofy hit it off and obviously the person behind the costume remained consistent since more than once Goofy found her and started their ongoing tickle fight again followed by sweet hugs.  She ate it up!   Abigail rocked the dance parties (of course) and her little sister did her share to take over the dance floor and show no fear in grabbing a cast members hands to get their groove on.  Chloe reminded me so much of Abigail when she was 2 on the cruise and just lit up when the music and those characters started dancing.   I didn't think we could make another one. :)   Our girls love a party and Disney throws some great ones for families.  We made some great memories and of course I got tons of pictures to remember it all with.  So thankful to get another wonderful family vacation in our memory banks.  God is so good to us!

heading into Fall

 no tears from my tiny dancer,  front of that line baby!!

 I have to mention here,  my bit sized Bit,  this is the very same dance tu-tu she wore to her very first dance class when she was 2!  Yup,  not kidding


Well we wrapped up summer 2012 and I must say I was actually  glad to see it go.  Not that it wasn't a wonderful time together on the long pool days and  ice cream runs on hot nights.  I love when a season is done and I feel like we did it justice, we lived it to the fullest.  Not that we had any exciting glamorous plans or vacations to look back on.   The only time we left town at all was to swing down to the beach to see Sue and Dave for a weekend.   I love the long simple seasons.   
  We have so much to look forward to as we head into fall this year that I was anxious to get it under way.  Abigail started 1st grade this year and after a little rough start is now doing great.   Amazing how fast they grow up.   Chloe is still home with me, (thank God) I'm not ready to send her off too just yet.   The girls have started into their dancing so the lazy summer schedule has morphed into pure fall madness but we are loving it.   Chloe's teacher said she could go ahead and start dance at only 2 yrs old this year since she is only a month away from her 3rd birthday.  We are thrilled because all summer long she has begged to start "dance cwass" and cried every time we sent Abigail out to her summer session.
 Abigail has taken her dance to the next level this year, about a year earlier then we anticipated moving her up.   Her school has a competitive dance company that travels and competes through the year.  We had decided to try for it maybe next summer, thinking she wasn't quite ready for the time commitment yet.  But as we got into her summer classes, and trying her in 2 classes a week pace she began to really have a drive to do it more.  I could see she was wanting to take it to the next level.   I talked to her about her love of it and we agreed that she would work on getting ready to try out for the company next summer.   One night watching the girls class the other moms and I were talking.  It is a wonderful group of ladies that are in this world and not at all like the nutty obsessed cut throat "Dance Mom's" on television.  They were watching Abigail dance and I too was enjoying watching their sweet girls boogie away in the class.  We all had a good laugh and realized we would have fun on the road together supporting the kids.   They insisted we do dance company together.  I told them we had thought about it too but the auditions were in June.  I told them I had checked Abigail's mail folder at the school a month late not knowing that her teachers had recommended she try out for the company this year.   They suggested I talk to the instructor and see if she would allow a late audition since some other girls in the company had moved away and left an opening.  I prayed about it, then wrote the teacher that night to ask if there was a chance she would let the Bit audition.  Her response the next day made me cry.  She said no audition needed, that she had been watching Abigail over the summer session and they would love to have her be a part of the team.  I was elated and so was Abigail!   We got right to work adding classes to her schedule and calling grandparents to share our excitement.

 working on her stretching while playing Disney Princess video games :)

  So far she is loving the crazy dance pace and she is learning so much.  Her little "mini" company is a wonderful group of gifted little dancers.  And equally the mom's are a blast to sit in the lobby with and laugh about our little diva dancers.  I feel like for now we are on the right path which is a good feeling.  I feel like its going to give Abigail a good healthy out for her energy and to use her true love of music in a good way.   There is a reason she took home the music award for the kindergarten class last year in school.  It's in her.  It doesn't just make her tick it lights her up from the inside out.  Brian and I are going to give her every opportunity to help this love grow.  And tell you what,  her little baby sister isn't far behind her.
      I took the girls to the fall fun run at the Bit's school today.   They hire a DJ for the field day and track events.   2 laps into the walk Abigail gets her monkey arms going and says "mommy, I'm tired, are we done walking yet?!"   She is not my 5k endurance girl for sure.   She was all whines and frowns until they hit the Cupid Shuffle on the loud speaker and she took her tiny booty off the track and started to get down and dance in the field instead.  Some other kids followed and they all were getting their 6 yr old groove on.  Abigail even called them all into a huddle after , got everyone to hands in, then yelled "Dance Group!".    It was a riot and Chloe was right in the middle of them shaking that tiny baby butt.  Gosh I love these kids!!!  Seriously , I don't think it's possible that anyone in the history of the world has ever had more fun raising kids.   God gave us a couple of His best and we are so thankful!
    We have a lot to look forward to here in the next few weeks and months.  Our vacation is coming up and I can't wait to see these little girls get better at their skills in class.  Brian is doing so well and we are just happy and grateful  for a happy healthy family and marriage when so much negative is everywhere around us.  This country, that I love so much  is just in the crapper and  I can't tell you how many scarey  and down right violent stories I have heard this week of friends, coworkers and family in some very dangerous and sadly deadly situations.  God is good to keep us safe.  Every day I pray for these kids in the world we are raising them in.   I wish it was better for their sake.  I'm thankful I know the God who is bigger then any dangerous evil that can get close to them,  I count on Him with more then my life.  I count on Him for theirs.
    We have had some friends deal with some very sick kids this week too.  A high school classmate's 4 yr old son w/ a malignant brain tumor.  They know the Lord and He is getting them through one day at a time.  I remember all to well those agonizing days of dealing with Brian's tumor.  It hits too close to home so I feel their pain.   Every day is a gift.  One we should use and be grateful for.  I have been fighting off some hopelessness with all these details and sad stories this week.   I bow my head,  pray for today and try not to fear tomorrow.   God doesn't want us sad or afraid.  I arm up, pray hard and give Brian and the girls more kisses and hugs and we move forward.  
When I get sick of my own thoughts a good fix is to sit outside w/ my Chloe.  We just came in from another messy session of turning over rocks to see all things creepy and crawling underneath.  I love my bug girl!  Her fascination with her little world is so simple, innocent and sweet.  It must be so stress free in Chloe-Land where according to her everything is just "so pun mommy! Dis is so pun!!".    When she runs at me with those dirty hands and her shoes on the wrong feet it makes everything feel  brighter and better. When she bows her little head in front of a plate full of lunch and sweetly utters how she  "tank God por wydia and  por choo choos".    I think that's what God had in mind when He created children. The little light bulbs they are just make the world better.  I'm awful partial to ours. He knew I needed them.