Disneyland!!

After Spencer was in Texas for three weeks, we decided to have a fun vacation. Disneyland came to mind because Tyler LOVES Mickey Mouse and we hadn't been there for a couple of years. I really wanted to see it at Christmas time, so we decided to wait till the boys were off track in December and go. We obviously had some meltdowns and tantrums (five kids 8 and under!) but it was an amazing week!

Thursday December 9, 2010 Pictures of most of the kids first plane ride :)

We flew JetBlue so everybody got a TV...I love JetBlue!

We landed at the Long Beach airport in California. I had never been to this airport, but thought it was awesome because we unloaded outside. It is a small airport with only like four gates, but nice because we could find our way around easily.

The boys didn't know any difference because the ones that had flown before were too small to even remember it. We took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel. After a couple of hours of just sitting in our room, we decided to go to the hot tub.


The next morning we ate the breakfast buffet at our hotel and headed out to our actual destination DISNEYLAND! This is not the night picture I exactly wanted, but it would get so crowded around the castle at night for the parade and fireworks...and my husband stays clear of crowds like that, so this is the best I got :)

Spencer does love the tea cups, I don't have the same love.

Mr Toad's wild ride was fun


Taking a break to eat was even fun

and miserable for others that didn't get exactly what they wanted :(


The scenic view was never a disappointment!

Toon Town was perfect for a bunch of little boys with lots of energy!


Of course we saw characters. We were in California adventure one night and just happened to walk past an employee who invited us into this special event. They had all the main characters. We just walked up to each one and got pictures taken. It was SO awesome! They got some real time with all of them, and Minnie loved Bryson, she kept kissing him, and when we were leaving he said I sure love Minnie, but why did she keep kissing me?

We got a nice family shot

After this we walked out to find Sully

Bryson was dying to find Woody, so of course we did!

And then there was Jessie with a soldier. While waiting in line for his turn, Bryson turned to Spencer and asked "Where's the green guys surfboard?" Spencer couldn't believe it, seriously he is so smart...but he said why don't you ask him. The soldier replied it was at Jessie's but I am sure he really didn't know what Bryson was talking about.

We split up one day, I took the younger three and Spence took the older two. I thought this was going to be hard, but it ended up being great!

It's a small world is decorated for the holidays too, and it was nice hearing We Wish You a Merry Christmas in the mix of the small world song....added some spice, and the ride did not disappoint. It was also a longer ride, so it was kind of a nice break from it all.

Splash Mountain! This is my favorite ride, and I took the older two boys first. I took pictures of our picture, but Spencer didn't take any of him. Bryson was too scared to go on this ride. It didn't help that we started the first day with Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. Tyler and Bryson were terrified by the time we got to Splash Mountain and didn't want to go on anything else. ha ha They quickly got over their fears, but we still eventually bribed Bryson to go on, and HE LOVED IT!

I did finally get to go on the Tower of Terror with Trev and Dilan. They are so big!

The Toy Story ride was new since we were last there, and we all loved it. You wore 3D glasses and the ride was actually 5 different game screens. It was a cool way to play carnival type games this way. Tyler LOVED this ride. The only bad thing was there wasn't a fast pass and the line was always at least 45 minutes long, and it never failed I was holding the kid that fell asleep in the line, but we made it :)


Played in Tarzan's tree house







and while they did this....I sat with two sleeping kids. Spencer took this picture from the tree house, and by then Kairi was awake.

Kairi was really good. She never really cries anyways, but she would sleep when tired, and eat when hungry. I did make it a point to leave her alone for at least one good nap during the day, and she slept in the stroller pretty good.

It was awesome having all the Christmas trees around, because it was so warm, it didn't feel like December at all!

The color of wonder show was absolutely amazing! I wish I could have viewed it by myself in the front...ha ha. We stood by some awesome people who let the boys get in front of them to get a better view...there are still good people in this world :)


We did take time off from Disney to go swimming though too....can you even believe swimming outside in December? It was so much fun. Kairi of course looked adorable in her little swimsuit.

Spencer took a hold of most of the boys, because Kairi was squirmy...I think she did awesome considering the water had a slight chill at first. The boys were in heaven.

Trevor does pretty good swimming on his own, and enjoyed a couple of cannonballs!

Dilan has always been a fish.

I had to throw this picture in too, because I love her eyes in it.

We also played in Downtown Disney. We enjoyed ice cream, pretzel bits, and buying most of the boys toys there. We were hanging out by a fountain and the boys were running around crazy, it was getting dark and the lights on the trees came on, it was so cool!

Before we knew it, it was time to go home :(

As worn out and tired as I was, I was so sad to see it end. It was so fun to take the time out to get to know my kids on another level, talk to them on the shuttles to and from Disneyland, watch their eyes dance with the whole experience, and to just let them be true natured kids. Took off from Long Beach to come home to a cold snowy city.

All Aboard!!!

My sister Mandy got me a great hook up on gingerbread train kits. It was such an awesome deal we were able to buy one per person. We always do a house together, but everybody has a different way of what they want things to look like, and they all want to be able to put the candy on, so this was SO awesome to let their own imaginations fly.

Tyler did so good, and he had enough patience to get his all decorated.



Trevor assembled his whole thing by himself. He of course had to pose for the picture :)



Dilan was really into it, but his kept falling over, and he eventually got bored waiting for it to harden enough to decorate. He is making quite the face too!



Bryson was having a bad day, and he really didn't seem that interested, but once he got going he loved it! He would tell his dad where he wanted the frosting, because he couldn't squeeze it out by himself, and then he would go to it. He couldn't wait to get it done, so he could eat it.



This last one is mine. I had helped with all the other boys, so by the time I got to mine I was kind of done with it, but I think it turned out okay :) Spencer didn't even do his, guess he kind of felt the same way. It was a fun activity with everybody though and it was nice to just let them have at it.

Gardner Elves!

I am so behind on this post, but better late than never!

We got invited to go to the elves with some friends. I had never been and letting the kids go play with friends is always fun :)

What is it with kids and ducks? It was cute watching them all look over this wall though.



The elves were very interesting looking, a little bizarre (on the creepy side)



Bryson trying to be a ladies man...ha ha ha




Dilan must love this thing, because this was his favorite for Halloween too



All the kids were just running around together, while we walked behind and talked. They missed this one, but all had to come running back to take a look and laughed so hard at this particular elf...it was so funny watching some of their faces trying to figure out what they were supposed to be looking at.



You can tell we were here early by looking at the sun rays, it was awesome! There wasn't any other people around, so the kids could just play together and have fun.



Trevor has been such a big helper lately. He pushed Tyler the whole time in the stroller. He is turning out to be an unbelievable kid, so glad he is mine :) and of course he had to pose!



It was a fun day, and a much needed. I was going to pass because I was trying to get us all packed for our trip, but I am SO glad I decided to go.

How lovely are your branches?

Tonight December 5, 2010 we finally got our tree up. It has been a super busy week, and Spencer working six days and sixty-six hours made for an even longer busier week. I would love to say Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are you branches! I am not sure this song applies to our tree. The boys were super excited to get it up, and they all helped this year, so it was up and done in record time.
Tyler was having so much fun adding on ornaments, but couldn't for some reason get them to stay on

Bryson was trying to hurry, because he wanted to put on the most

Trevor has been an awesome helper this year

Dilan had fun finding all his, and didn't want anybody else to hang them up

Kairi LOVED the tree. She kept crawling back to it no matter how many times we pulled her away.

Tyler had the least amount of ornaments to actually hang, so we decided he should put up the star...he was so excited, and Bryson was sooo mad :)

It was a little crooked....ha ha just a little!

The final product...notice the lack of ornaments towards the top...love it!

Bought these pajamas last year for $2. Tyler wore them for a little while, but I figured the best way to end the night was in Christmas pjs.

Trevor's Christmas program

How I wish I could put a video on here. The third grade classes at Trevor's school had a big Christmas program on Thursday December 2nd. It was one of the best programs I have seen in a long time. They had actions, props, and loud voices. They did this mash up of different snowman songs...it was AWESOME! Trevor was really proud of the performance and so was I. I did manage to video tape it despite being there alone with my five kids. My arms were exhausted after, but I really wanted Spencer to see it too. Here are a few pics I managed to get before it was over, blurry of course :)

Trevor picked this one as his favorite.

Happy Birthday Dilan!!!

Wow, six years sure have gone by fast! I still can remember Dilan being born, or really I can't remember much of that day after his birth..ha ha. Dilan has really grown up this last year. He is such a great kid and so much fun for our family. He is my sugar lover. Dilan confessed to licking the icing off the Halloween cupcakes, because "It was so YUMMY!" I love this kid though. He is a great big brother, and an excellent example to anybody watching him. He loves everybody and can make a friend anywhere. This year was a hard birthday, because I had region volleyball championship games on the night of his birthday. I was more than willing to pass the games for my little man, and I left this decision up to him. I sat him down and told him I had a volleyball game, but his birthday was far more important to me than any silly old game. I told him to decide if I should play or skip it. At about four that afternoon, he told me he really wanted me to play my game. What an awesome kid! I don't do a lot for myself, and this is one thing I really enjoy, so I was beyond grateful he was so loving and thoughtful towards me....who couldn't love him?

We took my mom with us to a Dairy Queen lunch....it was all about the blizzards this year :)

He got the at home Blizzard maker from us, with some itunes money for plants vs zombies and a few other games he has really been wanting. Then we took him to Incredible Pizza for dinner. He wanted to ride the go carts with Spencer, blurry picture, but I was holding two kids while taking this shot.

We had a family party for him on Sunday. We ate his choice of food.....hotdogs, chili, chips, pasta salad, cake and ice cream. He of course couldn't wait to open his gifts.






He wasn't too sure of this cake at first. He wanted a monster truck cake. I planned to make my own, but at 11 pm the night before the party, I knew I wouldn't have enough time, and I thought this cake was so nice. I bought the little monster trucks to go on it, but he wasn't happy at first when he saw the cake. He said "I didn't want a cupcake?" When he saw it was a cupcake cake, and Toy Story 3 and the little monster trucks, he couldn't have been happier (neither could I.)


It was "the best sixth birthday ever!" he told me later. Thanks for all the love and support from our families, a birthday he says he won't forget :)