Birthday in California

The first full day in California was their 6th birthday.  They woke up to decorations and presents!  

Look how big they are.  

We made reservations for the critter breakfast at Storytellers Cafe at our hotel.  

As soon as we were seated the critters started coming.  

Koda from Brother Bear

Dale

Kenai & Evan

Kenai & Ellie

Where's Charlotte?

There she is!

They do a parade with all the kids around the restaurant. 

Chip pulled me into the parade.  

Then we did the hokey pokey!

After all the fun we headed back to find Meeko waiting on us.  

And last but not least Chip.  

Since we were there so early we saw all the characters before we even started eating.  Then we chowed down.  

After breakfast we walked around and took some birthday pictures.  

Then their birthday money was burning a hole in their pockets.  

Another fun meal - Rainforest Cafe.  

Singing Happy Birthday to them.  

Finally swimming!  

We waited until the afternoon, but it was still chilly to us.  They didn't swim long.  

We headed to the hot tub!

After swimming and getting cleaned up we went to a diner for dinner.  Ruby's Diner

 They racked up on the desserts for their birthday.  They gave them each an ice cream sundae.    

It was a fun day celebrating these 6 year olds.  

Here we come California!

We decided to go to Disneyland for the kids' birthday this year.  They got 2 days off for Presidents' day, so we thought it would be a good time to go.  Since we had to get to the airport early we stayed in a hotel next to the airport the night before.  Let's just say Matthew & I didn't sleep good in this room. 

Heading to the airport.  

 This was also their first time to fly, so they were super excited.  

They did really well on the plane.  They loved all the movies and the snacks.  Once Ellie found out there was a bathroom on board she went 4 times.  Fun times!!! 

We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel and it was beautiful.  These are pictures from the Disney website because it's so big I couldn't take pictures to really show it.  

We traveled on Valentine's Day and this man's birthday.  Poor thing got the shaft on his birthday.  No cake or anything.  

This is our view from our room.  The hotel is right next door to the park California Adventure.  We had our own entrance to the park which was super nice.  Disneyland parks are smaller and closer together than Disney World.  You are also right in town unlike Disney World which is it's own town on it's own.  

We got all our maps and brochures to check everything out.  

Downtown Disney is right outside the hotel too.  Super convenient!  

We walked around and checked everything out.  

Disneyland Hotel is on the opposite end of Downtown Disney.  We saw a wedding going on at this hotel with the bride in the Cinderella carriage.  

The girls loved this.  

My sister, brother-in-law and nieces were with us too.  We enjoyed some down time playing before bed and their big day.   

Parties, Parties, Parties

The kids had lots of parties in the month of February.   

We celebrated their birthday at school on the 12th of February.  They liked the extra attention and of course the ice cream cones I brought.  

Then on February the 13th they had their Valentine party.  Of course that means Valentine boxes.  

Evan loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Leonardo is his favorite.

I'm sure everyone knows Charlotte loves owls!

Since we were about to leave for Disneyland, Ellie picked Minnie Mouse.  

Looking sharp for school.  

Time to party.  

Ellie sitting next to her boyfriend Evan.  

Speaking of boyfriends. Charlotte has one too.  Andrew is his name and he was out of town for the Valentine party, but left her a present.  Mrs. Ferguson keep it until he got back and let him give it to Charlotte.  She spied on them for me.  So sweet!  Matthew better get ready if this is already happening in Kindergarten!  

She was pretty excited about her new bear "Drew"!

We also got a taste of girl drama since Ellie didn't get one.  We are going to have it rough when they are teenagers.  

100 Days Smarter

Today was the 100th day of school.  To celebrate the day they dressed up like they were 100 years old.  It was so much fun and I love looking at these pictures.  I laughed so hard!!

Grandpa "Elmer"

Grandma "Pearl"

Charlotte is a fancy old lady.    

 Ellie is a spunky old lady!

Granny "Sophia"

Doesn't Ellie look like Sophia from the Golden Girls!  

They had a very fun day at school with Granny Ferguson.  

I can't believe they are 100 days smarter