Bambi

The children got 'Bambi' for Easter, and I have to admit that I'm a little surprised by how much they like it. They have watched it several times in the last week, which made this moment all the more magical.

 Cleaning up after dinner, I spotted two dear in the yard across the street. Soon they were joined by another and then they came into our yard. Kyrie was in awe!

 Almost close enough to touch!



Oh, the Cat-ness!

Pretty Ella Bella! Love this picture!

 I told Darren that it was impossible for me to capture all the cuteness of this moment in a picture, but I tried! The kittens are cuddling with Brutus who is pretty much the only cat that will actually let them cuddle. With their tabby colors, they look like the belong together!

Dear Di-va! She would be perfectly content to be the only cat in the house. She's very quirky, but super-soft and such a pretty girl! The last of my gray babies (RIP Scampy and Cindre)!

The art of snooze!

Happy Easter

We had a very traditional Easter morning this year, which was a change from our previous Easters. The kids woke up to find empty Easter baskets and the living room dotted with brightly colored, candy-filled eggs. There were also a few extra treats hidden around the room like books and movies and some toys.

Both kids were very excited, especially after their warm-up egg hunt the day before. They set to work with baskets in hand and soon found all the eggs (with a few hints from Mommy & Daddy). After our egg hunt, we had a simple breakfast and went to church. I feel like we almost got it "right" except that I didn't get any photos of the children all dressed up in their Easter clothes. Oh, and we still did not dye any eggs. I don't know why, but this just has not been a tradition for us, BUT next year I know will be our year!

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail

Easter seemed to come about too quickly this year even though it was at the end of April. We were still recovering from our trip to Disney World and welcoming Darren back home from his business trip to Europe and then suddenly it was Easter. Unfortunately, we missed one of our very favorite Easter egg hunts, but still managed to see the Easter Bunny and get a practice egg hunt in the day before the holiday.

We got a super-cute photo of the kids with the Easter bunny this year! I'm grateful for the other playgroup mommies who make sure traditions like this get on our activity calendar!

This year we tried out the Easter egg hunt at one of our metro parks. We visit this park about once a month for their nature programs, and this was the first year that they hosted an egg hunt. The day was dreary, but the temperature was quite nice. We started the morning doing some crafts and looking at some stuffed birds, eggs and nests. Then it was time to find some eggs.

There were not a lot of eggs, but the kids got a few (which was enough) and then they were ready to finish up their crafts and go to the playground. We got some cute photos of Degen playing with his little friend Luke!

And this was just too cute! This little girl came up to Degen and grabbed him and gave him a hug. At first he wasn't too sure, but then he decided he kinda liked his new friend and gave her a kiss! Aw-dorable!

Tuna Casserole Deconstructed

This semi-deconstructed tuna casserole is an idea I got while dining at Disney World. It was really delicious, and I knew it was something I had to try when we got home. I used a tuna steak dipped in egg and then coated it with finely crushed potato chips. Then I pan-fried it with some olive oil until golden brown. The noodles were basically prepared as you would prepare a tuna casserole (minus the tuna). I used red bell pepper, fresh mushrooms and peas then added (good ol') cream of mushroom soup and shredded cheese and seasoned to taste. Everyone liked it, including Kyrie who usually doesn't like tuna casserole.

I only had enough tuna steak for one meal preparation, but had plenty of noodles leftover. So, a few days later I just added a couple pouches of tuna, sprinkled on some crushed chips and popped it in the oven for a classic tuna casserole. It was so good that it didn't even seem like leftovers!

Epcot in Review

This was our family photo at the Ohana breakfast! I had to add a little token of Stitch's affection to the photo!

The final day of our "birthday vacation!"

Degen fell asleep and stayed asleep for at least an hour while we walked around Epcot. This was our hottest day, and people looked at me like I was crazy carrying around this big, sleeping baby!

The Princess Storybook lunch was the only character dining experience that gave you a free photo. This picture with Belle was an extra special birthday treat for Kyrie! 

Happily Ever After...

I think that this photo alone made the PhotoPass worth it! Wow! It is by far my favorite photo on the CD! Look at that castle in the sunshine? And 4 smiling faces! I love this photo!

I wish I would have 'forced' Kyrie into getting a few more solo pictures because this one turned out so cute! It's quite a difference from the last photo she took by herself in front of Cinderella's castle!

Darren & Degen are so cute in this picture!

This was our final evening at the Magic Kingdom. The kids were definitely over the whole photo thing by now, so we left the kiddos in the stroller and got this photo of just Darren & me! We have so few photos of us together that this is something special!

Our last family photo at the Magic Kingdom!

Back to the Jungle

I really like our family photos in front of the Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom. We were able to get into the park early because we had breakfast reservations and no one was around. These pictures were a good start to a great day!

There's that silly ol' Stitch following us around Disney World!

Of course, the highlight of our day at the Animal Kingdom was our character breakfast with Donald & friends!

Hollywood Studios... Take 2!

I was really excited for this day! It was my birthday and the sun was shining... and Degen started off the day with a nap, which is never a bad thing!

Surprise! It's Stitch! This was an effect added by the Disney folks. You can tell that my years in drama really prepared me for this photo!

More from the Magic Kingdom

I mentioned in a previous post that we took advantage of the Disney PhotoPass program, and yesterday we got our photo CD. Our original photo count was probably under 100 pictures, but the Disney folks gave us some bonus content of some of the characters and park features. We also added some photos that we bought during a few of our character dining experiences (the photos were my souvenir). Then I set to work editing & enhancing our photos, which meant making the very most of all the borders and little Disney effects available on the PhotoPass site. I didn't know what kind of enhancements we'd want to print in the end, so I would add several to the same picture and then save it as a copy. After I was done with all that, we had more than 300 pictures on our CD, which seemed to get here in record time after I placed the order. So, here are more of our Disney World photos (which I will divide into a few posts):



The border says it all: 1st Visit! This was our first day, and I had the kids by myself. This is our best picture- can you see the absolute uncertainty on the kids' faces? But it definitely captures the moment!

Kyrie is trying to give it a good effort (because Mommy would really like a picture), but you can tell that they are ready to leave the Magic Kingdom!

"My mommy is making me get this photo taken." (Can't you just tell that she's thinking that!?!)

I SO love this photo specifically because of Degen. We did this right as we were heading out of the park, and it's like he's moaning, "Get me outta here already!" Both kids were hot & exhausted, and I was obviously disheveled!

Yeah! I like these photos! This is the evening of the same day, but unexpectedly Darren was able to join us. The weather was cooler, and those gray clouds would bring down the rain shortly after we took this photo, but we were there and together and smiling: "Let the Memories Begin!"