Eight Things . . .

I stole this from another blog - Heather's, to be exact--who stole it from Londie! I thought it would be fun . . . feel free to copy to your own blog and play along. I love reading these kinds of things!

Eight Things:

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1. Jon & Kate Plus 8
2. The Office
3. Biggest Loser
4. House Hunters
5. Extreme Makeover Home Edition
6. What Not to Wear
7. Heroes
8. Dancing With the Stars

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Ruth's Chris
2. Jim & Nick's
3. Chili's
4. McAlister's
5. Cracker Barrel
6. Chick-fil-A
7. On the Border
8. Abbay's

8 Things That Happened Today:

1. I slept in for the first time in several weeks (thank you Brent)
2. I enjoyed 3 yummy meals prepared by my mother-in-law (we're in Alabama visiting for Thanksgiving)
3. I took a long, uninterrupted shower
4. I dried and straightened Ally's hair and my hair (using my new flat iron--LOVE it)
5. I watched Claire touch her nose everytime I said, "Claire, where's your nose?" (her new trick)
6. I went shopping at the Jasper Mall with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, 2 nephews, Brent, and my girls (bought a REALLY cute BAMA headband to wear on Saturday)
7. I made 13 hairbows and cut ribbon for more
8. I watched the news about the terrorists in India (same place Brent was a few months ago--so scary!)

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Thanksgiving with the family tomorrow ( I am sooo blessed!)
2. Singing with Brent Sunday night at church
3. Decorating our tree/house for Christmas
4. Going to Mommy Watch Night at Ally's dance studio
5. Visiting my relatives for Christmas in New Jersey (we get to see my grandmother and aunts, uncles, and cousins who have never met the girls)
6. Seeing the look on Ally & Claire's faces as they open their Christmas gifts
7. Our trip to New York City and the American Girl Place
8. Our Disney trip in May

8 Things on My Wish List:

1. Blackberry Storm
2. A good zoom lens for my Canon Rebel
3. Photography classes
4. A new pair of running shoes
5. A new coat--red or houndstooth
6. A night or weekend alone with Brent
7. A personal trainer (in my dreams--while I'm dreaming I'd also like a personal chef, nanny, and housekeeper)
8. A bigger house (we have soooo outgrown ours)

We're Going to Disney World!

I booked our trip to Walt Disney World this week! We are going with the girls May 16-23, 2009 to celebrate our 10th Anniversary! We are all VERY excited! I've only been to WDW twice--when I was 3 and for a choir competition when I was a freshman in high school. Brent has been twice as well--but it has been awhile. This will be Ally and Claire's very 1st Disney trip.I wasn't sure how to go about booking our trip so my friend Terri gave me the name of her Disney travel agent. (Angela Kroon 866-644-2825) Anyone who is ever thinking they might go to WDW someday needs to write her name and number down! She is absolutely PHENOMENAL (and FREE because she works for Disney)!! I don't understand why anyone would not go through a travel agent. She was so helpful and FULL of knowledge. I had already done quite a bit of research (me being the planner that I am) and I was a little concerned about getting reservations for the prime characters meals--especially Cinderella's Royal Table (dining in Cinderella's castle with the princesses). In the "Unoffical Guide to WDW" I read that you must call 180 days out at 7:00 a.m. EST (so that's 6 a.m. our time) and if you're lucky you'll get a reservation. The book had THREE pages with tips/tricks on how to land the reservation--synchronizing your watch with when you call and hoping for the best. Needless to say, I was a little stressed out after reading this. Well Angela was able to get us reservations within minutes of getting off of the phone with me. She will also be reserving the other character meals of our choice as soon as she is able.
We were able to take advantage of a great deal: Buy 4 days/nights at WDW and get 3 days/nights for FREE!! We chose the Polynesian Resort because it has great access to all of the parks AND I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. Here is a picture of the resort:

Ally is super excited about the pool!
My travel agent already sent us a HUGE packet full of great info that I can't wait to look through! I just can't say enough good things about Angela. She is going to help me plan our trip day-by-day using her insider knowledge of what parks to avoid on which days, how to acquire the best seats for a fireworks show, etc. So for the next several months I'm going to be in planning mode (so exciting for someone with a Type A personality like me). We will be counting down the days until May 16th!!

Visiting Santa

Today I decided to take the girls to get there picture taken with Santa. Yes, I know it's early--but it's the best time to go. No lines and no waiting!! This year Ally decided to write a letter to Santa to let him know exactly what she wants for Christmas. This semi-prewritten letter was perfect for her (purchased from my friend Amy at www.writedesignsbyamy.com). Do you see a theme here?

She decided that it was imperative to take the letter with us and share it with Santa in person. Here she is reading it with him!
And let me say that Ally just ADORES Santa! She ran right up to him and jumped in his lap. Claire--not so much! She wanted nothing to do with Santa. I could not calm her down until I physically picked her up off of his lap and walked away. And the thing is was that just last week I decided to let her warm up to Santa. We went and just talked to him and she was happy sitting in his lap. Fast forward to today--FREAKING OUT!! Of course on the day we get the photo made--that's a girl for you. Allowed to change her mind/emotions at any moment without any fair warning! So needless to say, the picture wasn't the perfect photo that I had invisioned. My candid shot actually turned out better than the package that cost me $24.99.
A closeup of the waterworks!

and another

(I thought this one was cute of Santa trying to comfort her)

Ally not wanting to leave

Big hugs for Santa
Ally showing off her Santa letter

Every year I end up taking pictures of the girls behind the Santa setup because it makes a nice backdrop. (Claire is gaining composure now)

Claire loved touching the poinsettas
my sweet girls

Ally

actually getting somewhat of a smile from Claire

Claire

After I finished with my pictures I changed the girls into more comfy clothes. Claire DEVOURED her candy cane--YUMMY! And we ran into some old friends that used to be in our Sunday School Class--they now live in MS. Ally and her daughter Maci hit it off immediately! They acted as if they had known each other forever--it was soooo cute!

Happy 2nd Birthday Taylor!!

Today we celebrated Taylor Brady's 2nd birthday! It was a St. Louis Cardinals baseball themed party--check out the cute cake!

The food--peanuts, cracker jacks, and nachos

Taylor with Mommy & Daddy

Langston, Drew, Ally, & Lexi

Ally

Brent & Claire

Taylor & his cousin

enjoying the ice cream
Leslie & the kiddos
opening presents

checking out his new glovehelping feed his sister Caroline

Claire enjoying the confetti
After the party we headed to Walmart to grab some lunch before the Bama game. They had Barbie dressed up greeting everyone. Ally was super excited to get her picture taken with Barbie!

Trunk-A-Treat

Tonight was our church's annual Trunk-A-Treat. Our Sunday School Class always arrives early and we all bring a ton of food to share! Ally helped me cook the brownies.

Ally (A.K.A. Ariel)

Before we left the house we had a bit of a costume malfunction. The shoes I bought that went with the costume were too narrow for Ally's feet (and she does not have wide feet). She was devastated! So I grabbed a pair of her purple Barbie dress-up shoes and ripped the decoration off of them. Then I cut off the Ariel face and marabou fur (from the original Ariel shoes) and hot glued it to the Barbie shoes. It was actually pretty cute and Ally LOVED her "new" shoes!!
Claire as a ladybug
(I could not get a good picture of her--she was all over the place)

Daddy & Claire

This child did not want to sit in her stroller and she carried her doll with her everywhere!

Ally & Isabella

Taylor
Hannah

Drew

Natalie

The Brady Family

The Lollar Family

(Thanks for taking our pic, Leslie!!)

Elizabeth & Ellie

Taylor

Beth & Isabella

Lily

The 2 Ariels (Ally & Lexi)

Grace Ann

Grace Ann, Ally, & Gavin

Harrison

Madison

Carter

Caroline

Leah & me

Shonna & me

Emma

Beth & me

The Wagner Family

Hannah

The Grisham Family

Avery

Alex

Langston

Kayla

Daddy trunk-a-treating with the girls

After the tunk-a-treating was over we headed to the gym. Ally played all of the games at least once and ate some pink cotton candy (it HAD to be pink). She got a TON of candy--her bucket was overflowing! I chased Claire all over the gym. She did not want to be held and did not want me to hold her hand--she wanted to be FREE!! I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night! I asked Ally what her favorite part of the evening was and she said, "Seeing my teachers Mrs. Lori & Mrs. Vicki"--she cracks me up!!