Just for Mama's memory banks . .

Had to document these things before I forget just how cute my kids can be:

Brady is demonstrating sweet character traits lately. He wants to be helpful to his Mama. The other day, he was eating a snack in the kitchen. I heard an "uh-oh . . .a mess". I was visiting with my sister at the time so didn't take time to investigate. Here comes his cute little waddling self through the living room and down the hallway towards the boys' bathroom. Out he comes pulling the toilet paper roll all the way down the hallway . . .still connected at the roll by the toilet! Apparently, that was his solution to clean up his spill in the kitchen! BTW - we NEVER use toilet paper to clean up our messes in the kitchen or anywhere else (except the appropriate places, ya know), so I have no idea where that one came from - except from his cute little head!

He was playing with my fingers yesterday and noticed how they are a little bit longer than his. He scampered off and returned with the clippers I use on the boys when I do their nails. "Here go, Mama - clip!" So sweet to take care of his mama.

He's started asking, "why?" way too much lately. M - "Brady - it's time to go to bed" B - "Why?" with his hands out like he's truly wondering why in the world I would suggest such a thing. Cute.

We went to dinner after church Saturday night with some friends. I was having a nice chat with my friend when I looked over to see sweet Brady calmly using his spoon to "paint" refried beans all over his left hand and arm. Such amazing art talent - body art. When I called attention to it, he grinned his cheesiest grin, rubbed his hands together then smeared then all over his face. He's a mess!

Ok, that's all - I just needed to write those down somewhere! I promise my big boys do such cute things, too - there's just something about the antics of a toddler that make me giggle more than most!

Blessings -

Play groups and THE SLIDE!

The boys and I had the most interesting and fun time last Friday . . .we joined a bunch of women and all their millions of little ones up at church to play at the new and improved play scape! I wonder if we have a new word for it now, and where did we get the word, "Play scape", anyway? Suggestions? Can we name it something new now that it is so AWESOME??

Since it was being built in the atrium, my sister has been wanting to go down the endless slide and experience all the fun tunnels inside. Friday was her day to fulfill her dream. She had Colby "show her where to go", and they had a great time making their way through all the mazes. It looked like so much fun that I decided to follow. It WAS fun - but I caution all you grown ups out there who might want to try it as well - there is one place that is a little humbling when you have to squeeze through a child size opening, and beware of the killer static shock you might get at the end of your ride down the eternally spinning slide! Other than that and just feeling a little bigger than the average person in the area, it is great.

I think my favorite thing, though, is right upstairs in full view of the play area - THE PORCH - where you can buy yummy coffee, pastries, and even shop at the nice bookstore. Oh, and don't forget the nice cushy chairs for parents to lounge in while their little ones wear themselves out in the play place. Very nice. Way to go, RHCC! Love it!

Brady is sharing a snack with one of his buddies, little Katie girl (they've been seen giving each other a kiss at school occasionally - yikes!!)
Football boys . . .while the smaller kids climbed, these rough boys had a rockin' game of football going on in the open area. And why do "bunny ears" remain timeless???

The brave play scape women adventurers!!!

It's good to have friends

Being the third child, it's been a little challenging to make sure my Brady man has some friends to call his own. I hear that babies at church like him, and he always seems to enjoy his buddies at preschool, but a mama always has it on her heart to make sure her babies have buddies.

Brady has a couple of friends that he's really enjoying spending time with these days . . .my sweet friend, Katie, has a set of boy-girl twins that are a couple of months younger than Brady, and they are getting to be best pals! So, thanks, Aspen and Clarke, for being my Brady's little buddies!

Here's another friendship that I look forward to watching grow and change over the years . . .cousin Annie is one of Brady's fav's. She brought her special blanket with her last Wednesday (I keep her every Wednesday while her mommy works) - it's a blanket that is the same as "blue blanket", except so very girlie. Brady thought it was so cool that Annie had a blanket like his. He would grin and look from his to Annie's and say, "Brady's blanket . . .Annie's blanket . . .Brady's blanket . . .Annie's blanket". You get the picture. Cute little guy. Annie is pretty thrilled to have a great buddy like Brady as well!

Ellen show!

To anyone who checks this blog, I have a news alert!! Tomorrow, Friday January 11th, the Ellen Degenensekrjalekrj (however you spell it) show is having some kind of story about one of our patients from work - little Cody. I don't know the details, but I love cute little Cody, and his great PT, Kelly, and the therapy dog, Walker, who might possibly be in the story. The filming crew came out last Saturday to shoot some footage of him at our clinic doing treatment with Ms. Kelly and Walker. Walker's "mom", Sara (one of my speech buddies), is so excited that her "baby" might be on national television!! he! So, if you want to see a cute kid who is awesome, a great therapist who rocks, and an amazing therapy dog on TV tomorrow, tune in to the Ellen D. show!

Our "favorite things"

Still dreaming about Disney and wishing we could go back . . .here's list of "our favorite things" from the big boys:

Tyler loved . .

* seeing the Power Rangers at MGM and posing with one for a picture

*Star Wars shop (more so than even the actual ride - he loved browsing the aisles of the store and cohersing his parents into buying him new characters!)

* Cars ride at Magic Kingdom

* Buzz Lightyear ride at MK

* Dumbo ride at MK

* Lion King show at Animal Kingdom

* face painting (even though he wouldn't use his lips when they had paint on them - too funny)

* It's a Small World ride (because it wasn't as "scary" as the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!)

* Lunch with JoJo, Goliath, Leo and June

* FANTASMIC! show at MGM - this was his all time favorite - he's been acting it out, drawing it and telling everyone about it since we got home.

Colby loved . . .

* Star Wars Tours ride (and the shop, but not as much as Tyler did!)

* Peter Pan's Flight at MK

* Soarin' at Epcot (it was AWESOME! was the response we got)

* face painting (2 days in a row, and he keeps asking us if he can do it again)

* fireworks!

* cars ride at MK

* breakfast with Pooh and friends at Crystal Palace

* "maybe the Big Thunder train, but it was too scary for me"

* Dumbo ride at MK

* Indiana Jones stunt show at MGM

Brady loved everything. I've never seen such a brave little kid that wasn't fazed by things that scared his big brothers and made them hide their eyes. He loved every 3-D show, every bad guy, all the sudden noises, the fireworks, and greeting all the characters. He was too cute. He may not have any memories of Disney, but he sure enjoyed it while we were there! Ahh . . .Disneyworld - we miss you! See you again someday~

Our Magical Vacation

How do you blog sufficiently about a Disney vacation?? My family along with my parents and sister and her family left for Florida last Saturday to spend Christmas week in Disney world and had a "magical" time!! We had been anticipating this vacation together for 2 years - we traditionally take a family trip to Colorado for Christmas every other year, and two years ago we began talking and dreaming about a Disney vacation. Donny and I had never been there before, and were excited thinking about taking our kids with us to experience through their eyes as well.

We all arrived on Saturday - my parents went before us in the morning and got the rental cars and got settled in the condo's, then picked us up at the airport. Sunday was our MGM day - excited and giddy don't quite do justice to the way we were feeling as we walked into our first park!! We saw lots of shows, had a character lunch with Playhouse Disney characters, and loved just being there. I think the highlights of our day were the Fantasmic show and then the overwhelming light display in the Streets of America area. When we turned the corner and saw lights "dancing" to music, our jaws dropped, but when snow started falling (artificial, but SOO COOL!) on us, we were stunned. It was incredible!

Our first character sighting . . .so fun! Below is Mom and Colby amazed by SNOW!

Monday it was off to Epcot. Can I just say "Soaring"?? This was one of our all time favorite rides. The big boys both exclaimed in the middle of the ride, "This is AWESOME!!" We all loved "The Seas" area, too - Brady especially fell in love with the manatees (sp?). He must have stood at the aquarium window for over 30 minutes saying "Hi, ma-tee! Come back, ma-tee! Wow, ma-tee!" We had reservations at a restaurant that night and tickets to the Candlelight Processional. Gary Sinise (CSI NY guy) narrated the Christmas story straight from scripture, accompanied by the Disney Orchestra and large choir - this was one of my all time favorite experiences as well. I loved hearing little Brady say, "Jesus! Jesus!" when he heard Gary read about Jesus' birth. Right after the processional, we moved to an area around the lake to see the incredible laser light fireworks show. Tyler was very sad when it was over. We were all sad when it was over. Good day. Tuesday morning was Christmas morning, so we enjoyed sleeping in a little and seeing what Santa had left in our stockings that night (yes, he actually got the memo that we were in Florida instead of Texas . .he is so very smart, that Santa!). The boys all got letters from Santa with a picture on it of the item Santa had left for them under our tree . . .Santa knew we didn't have luggage space to take back their gift! The adults all figured going to Disney world was gift enough for us, so no gifts this year - just lots of fun memories together (and millions of pictures!!). We headed to Animal Kingdom after breakfast, and highlights there were the Lion King show and the Safari ride. Colby was VERY excited to get his face painted and was a little sad when we had to go home for the night and take a bath. We all decided the boys should get their faces painted the next day as well! Monica, Mom and Dad went back to Epcot that night so M&D could do Soaring and a 3-D show that they had missed out on while they were doing grand baby care the day before.

Wednesday we were off VERY early for Magic Kingdom!! We had a character breakfast with the Winnie the Pooh characters at the Crystal Palace that was SO great!! Getting there early for breakfast also got us a great photo opp in front of Cinderella's castle. It was the only time we were able to walk down Main street and in the castle area when we weren't shoulder to shoulder with millions of other people. I think Christmas is a very popular time to do Disney - can we say crowded?? he! We started in Adventure land, and worked our way through to Frontier land, where we got to meet Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. The big boys rode Big Thunder Mountain - they weren't all that impressed - Tyler came off holding his head saying it made him very dizzy, and Colby reportedly started moaning, "Mommy . ..Mommy . .Mommy" when it started going fast! Oops! They recovered quickly, though, and we promised them we wouldn't take them on any more fast rides! The rest of the day was spent in Fantasy Land riding all my favorites - It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight. The best, though, was finding the Mouse himself in Toontown. We waited just a little bit, then were ushered into a room with just our family for a private greeting time with Mickey! It was awesome!! The cast members were there taking pictures for us, helping the boys pose with Mickey, and just letting us enjoy as much time as we wanted with him. We were so surprised and how personal they make that greeting time! Cool. The boys ALL got their faces painted right before we saw Mickey - they were so cute. Tyler didn't like paint on his lips and looked kinda funny sticking them out until it wore off, and Brady picked at his mouth for a while, but they sure made cute little characters! Tyler was Donald Duck (and did the voice to match all day), Colby was a pirate, and Brady was a cute little Dalmatian puppy. Late that afternoon, we parked all our strollers in front of the castle and watched one of the Christmas castle shows, then Monica and I manned the strollers while everyone else went back to Tomorrowland to ride some more rides. We held our spot for the lighting of the castle, ooed and ahhhed over the beautiful, ice-like lights, and had a great time just chatting and enjoying being in the place we had wanted to come for years. We had a front row view of the parade of lights, and LOVED watching the fireworks around the castle. It was magical - beautiful and magical! Then we turned around to head out and groaned as we saw that it was going to take awhile . . .I've never seen a mass of people all moving in the same direction quite that large. Donny used one of the boys Mickey Mouse light sabers to lead our group - he held it up in the air so we would all see where he was. It took probably an hour or more to get all the way home - sweet little Brady was such a trooper the whole trip, but this was the one time when he had had enough. He was a sad little puppy - sad and tired. By the time we got home, he was asleep and I got him upstairs, in pj's, washed his face and put him in bed without him ever waking up.

Thursday was our last day at the parks - back to Magic Kingdom we went! We did cool things in Tomorrowland like the race cars and the Buzz Lightyear ride, then headed to find Minnie Mouse so little Annie could meet her in her matching Minnie costume! The big boys chose to ride some rides with PawPaw and Nonny while we found Minnie, Donald Duck, and Goofy. I loved watching Brady with the characters - he was completely in awe, but loved snuggling with them and giving them hi-five's. So cute. After lunch and all the rides we wanted to do, the Vaughns headed home for a family nap (much needed for all), then met up with everyone else that night at MGM to see Fantasmic again (this time on the front row center!! Wow!!) and then to look at the light display one last time. Great way to end our Disney experience. We were very sad to leave the park that night. Glad to go home and go to bed, but sad to leave!

Friday we packed up everything and headed to the BEACH!! The boys had never seen the ocean, and LOVED splashing in the waves and playing in the sand. We went thinking we would just stick our toes in . . .all 3 boys and PawPaw ended up soaked from head to toe and loving it!! It was so cute to watch them all. We're thinking a beach trip may be on the docket for a family vacation sometime in the future!! We flew home Friday night, and have been in recovery mode ever since. Monica and I decided that a Disney trip is almost like having a baby or getting married in the context of how many pictures you take! We have spent more time looking at pictures, choosing which ones to develop, etc. So very fun. So, when can we go back??

Hope everyone has a blessed New Year! Blessings. . .