Christmas is in full swing around here!

Disney World

Emery's dreams came true last week!  We went to Disney World with some dear friends and met EVERY Disney princess.  Emery couldn't believe her eyes.  In addition to all the fun rides she got to eat in the castle, have breakfast prepared by Mickey and friends, see Nemo and Dory up close and personal, and stay in a gorgeous hotel with lots of heated pools.  In other words, her idea of heaven.

 

Ben, Bodie, Emery and I were joined on the trip by some of our best friends, who just so happen to also have three year old daughters obsessed with princesses.  Tara, Nando, and McKenna Calvo met up with us in Atlanta and we were all on the same flight to Orlando.  Once in Florida, The Boyd family (James, Debbie and Phinley) drove over from Melbourne.  We all stayed at the Grand Floridian and had a (very expensive) blast....until the last day when everyone except Emery, Bodie and me came down with a wicked stomach bug.  I'll spare you the gory details, but it was not fun.  Amazingly, everyone recovered enough (barely) to make the flight home.  Whew!  What a whirlwind of a trip.  We'll do it again in a few years when Bodie is older. 

 

We had amazing, if not unseasonably cool, sunny weather all three days and the park was not terribly busy.  We used fast passes for as many rides as we could and barely spent any time waiting in lines.

 Spinning tea cups

 Carousel

 First ride on the monorail!  On our way to Epcot--that's our beautiful resort in the background.

 Meeting Cinderella in the castle for lunch!

Snow White--or "Snow Wipe," as Emery calls her

 Emery and Mommy on Dumbo

At Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort--Bodie is thinking "WTF?!?!?!"

 Emery and Phinley giving Donald some love

 Ben with Emery, James with Phinley and Nando with McKenna in the lobby of the Grand Floridian

 

Debbie and Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast."  Gaston's likeness to the animated Gaston from the movie was uncanny.  One of the coolest parts of the trip was that we got a sneak preview of the New Fantasyland, which houses Enchanted Stories with Belle and Ariel's Grotto rides.  SO COOL.  And no lines!!!! 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween gets better and better every year.  I thought last year was tough to beat--my sister and Brian came to town with Hayes and Kelsey.  We had so much fun taking Thomas the Train (Hayes) and the two candy corns (Emery and Kelsey) to a few houses in Thornblade and watching their excitement as they began to understand what trick-or-treating is all about.  Well, a lot changes in a year.  Emery was REALLY into Halloween this year and we had a blast hitting up dozens of houses with Harper and Presley.  Prior to going door to door, all of the parents and kiddos enjoyed pizza and brownies together.  I love Halloween!

 Emery the ice cream cone, Bodie the shark, Presley the lamb and Harper as Mary--aren't they precious?

 Bodie's costume stayed on really well.  Much better than I had hoped.  I couldn't even look at him crawling without laughing.  He looked like a swimming shark!

 Ben joined us for the first few houses and then headed home to hand out candy.  He was busy!  We had hundreds of trick or treaters.

 I am so proud of Emery and Harper.  They were not shy and said "trick or treat" and "thank you" at each house.  We walked miles and stayed out way past bedtime and all four kiddos were perfect angels.

Bodie's Baptism

Our precious baby boy was baptized last Sunday at our church, Mitchell Road Presbyterian.  This is also where Emery attends school and I just adore everything about the church and the academy.  We were fortunate to have all of Bodie's grandparents in attendance, including his great grandmother, Nanny!  My sister and her family as well as many cousins and friends celebrated with us.  Following church we hosted everyone for a big brunch at our house.  The kids (and there were a lot of them!) enjoyed playing in the enormous bouncy house I rented as well as jumping on Emery's new trampoline.  We lucked out with the weather and had a gorgeous morning and afternoon.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this day so special.  We are so blessed!

I did not take a single picture--thanks, Linda (Grandma), for being my photographer!  Bodie James with his Slagel grandparents.

Emery, Bodie and I met my mom and Nanny at Denver Downs Farm in Anderson, SC, last weekend for our annual visit to the pumpkin patch and celebration of all things fall.  They added a new feature this year--a giant bubble of a trampoline/moon bouncy thing.  Emery had so much fun!  I inquired about having one put in our backyard, but apparently they're not as simple as I had hoped.  Somehow I don't think Ben will go for me digging trenches all through his beloved yard to blow air into this huge tarp thing that would surely kill the grass.  I guess we'll have to stick with our original plan to get a trampoline one day in the near future.  However, falling off one of these bubble things would be a lot less dangerous.

 

 Jack-o-lantern tetherball

 Rubber ducky races

 Rolling around in corn....just like last year.

 Bodie's first autumn!  And also his first taste of ice cream (thank you, Nanny!)

 He loved it!

Fruits of my labor

Eight jars of apple butter made from our Sky Top apples. It's pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!

Sky Top Apple Orchard

For the second year in a row, Emery and I made the trek up to the North Carolina mountains (only about 45 minutes from our house--I don't know why we don't take advantage of this proximity more often) to visit Sky Top Apple Orchard.  We were joined by Davis and Harper (of course) and their mommies, Casey and Diana, as well as my friend Ashley and her 14 month old twins, Max and Sydney!  We had a wonderful afternoon in the warm sunshine picking apples, eating apple doughnuts (oh my--words cannot describe the goodness), enjoying our picnic lunch, and watching the kids run all over the beautiful landscape. 

 

 Harper, Davis and Emery

 We hit the peak of Golden Delicious and Granny Smith picking time.  So far I've made eight jars of apple butter.  I also see a pie in my future.  The apples are delicious.

 The whole gang!  Davis, Emery, Harper (back row) and Sydney and Max in the wagon.

 Emery hard at work.  She quickly filled our basket to the point of overflowing.

My pretty girl.

Emery's First Movie

Emery has been in love with "Finding Nemo" for about a year and a half.  I recorded it one night on ABC Family and I couldn't believe the immediate obsession.  It is the first movie she ever watched from start to finish and she wanted to watch it continuously.  Good thing Mommy happens to like the movie, too.  Dory is Emery's favorite character.  We even named our Betta "Dory" last summer--and she's still with us!  I was thrilled to learn that "Finding Nemo" was being rereleased in theaters--in 3D!  I've never seen a 3D flick and Emery had never been to a movie in a theater.  We had to go.  So, last Sunday we had a date with Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Bruce, Nigel, Peach, Chum and the others.

 We had a little photo session before we left.  Emery wore her Bruce tee shirt and brought along her enormous Nemo.

 3D glasses.  These are mine.  Emery's were smaller and blue, but she wanted to wear mine.

We made it through the entire movie!  Yay!  Thankfully, the theater was almost empty as Emery really enjoyed running up and down the stairs and climbing over the seats.  However, she was reasonably quiet and got a kick out of seeing these well-loved Pixar friends on the big screen.  She also got a kick out of her Coke, popcorn and m&m's.