11 Months Old

January 3rd (ish): Katy Ellis is 11 Months Old

So Katy Ellis isn't EXACTLY 11 months old in her photo shoot. We were in Disney when she turned 11 months old, and then it got lost in the shuffle when we got home. But HEY! better late than never, right?!?! 

When Katy Ellis was really young, she was so calm and quiet. Now... I would say she is still quiet, LIKE A NINJA!! This girl is in to everything!! She is super sneaky and so, so fast!! She is keeping her mommy on her toes!

Katy Ellis started really eating EVERYTHING this month! She loves green beans, salmon, nuggets, strawberries and mashed potatoes. If we are eating it, she gets to at least try it. She LOVES eating real people food.

Her Dislikes: Confinement of any kind... she wants to be free to move!!! She does not like baby food any more...she is over it!

There is something about this age that makes me feel that she is moving out of infancy and into toddler-hood. She wants to do and be where the big kids are... she thinks she is BIG! Banks and Blakely will be running around the house giggling yelling "Come on KK! Come on KK!" and she is happily crawling after them as fast as she can!! They are so great with her!

She is pulling to stand on EVERYTHING... and then cruising everywhere!! If there is a will, there is a way! I came into  the living room the other day and she had crawled onto the ottoman, then the chair and was standing up looking at me. I about had a heart attack! This girl is busy.

First Words!! This month she started talking a little bit. She said Hi, then Dada and Mama, and then Nigh-nigh. Every time she says something Blakely freaks out!!! "She's talking!!! KK talking!!! Mama KK talking!!"

Love this inquisitive little bug!

Likes: Cruising, standing, toys, free crawling through the house, food, and baby dolls.

This is one ticklish little girl! Sure fire ways to make her giggle: tickling her chest and under arms, blowing raspberries on her tummy, and doing "Ugga-mugga"/Eskimo kisses.

Action Jackson on the move!

Memories from 11 months old: GrandPop carrying her all over Disney, pulling herself OUT of the exersaucer, figuring out away UNDER the safety gates, making kissy face and saying "oooo-oooo-oooo."

Katy Ellis still takes 2 naps per day that are about 2-3 hours long and sleeps 11-12 hours at night. She has no separation anxiety, and she loves being with other kids at church.

We are still STUCK on bottles. I wouldn't say she doesn't like sippy cups, so much as she really doesn't know what to do with them. She has never been very vigorous with bottles, and so I don't think she can even get the juice out of her new cups. She gets MAD if you don't give her the bottle on time.... so we are stuck. Gonna try the old school sippies that spill everywhere!

Katy Ellis, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of the brave, crazy, inquisitive little bug you have become! We couldn't ask for a better baby girl. You are still an easy baby.... but MAN! You are so, so, so busy! You wear Mama slap out! Love you little bit!! xoxoxoxo Mommy and Daddy

Disney 2015: Magic After Dark

Disney 2015: Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner and the Electric Parade

On Thursday of our trip, we went to the girls first character dinner at the Grand Floridian, and then on to the Electric Parade and Wishes Fireworks show. We had them out "on the town" until 9pm!! This is practically midnight in toddler-town, so it was a one time deal for this trip. I am sure when they are older this will be a night time ritual of being at Disney, but for now, it gets to be a special event. This was one of my favorite things we did on this trip!!

First stop for the Evening, Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner. This is a character dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the evil Stepmother and the 2 evil Step Sisters. We had heard that this was a really fun dinner, and that the step sister steal the show. We will have to see...

Love the girls in these sweet outfits that GG and I made.

During the course of  the dinner, they announced the arrival of different characters. The first was Lady Tremaine (aka the Evil Step mother). Considering how sweet GrandAnnie is, she looks pretty "evil" in this picture! Ha!

Katy Ellis loved meeting Cinderella!!

Blakely was so excited to see Cinderella again! Cinderella is by far her FAVORITE princess.

 She made sure she got EVERYONE's autograph!!

Katy Ellis was "charmed" by Prince Charming. Blakely on the other hand hid under the table, and she could NOT be coaxed out!! Yes Blakely, cute boys are TERRIFYING! Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!



My father-in-law jumped up and asked Anastasia (aka the EVIL step sister) to take a picture with him. She was hilarious and ridiculous, and she NEVER left character. I think GrandPop might be smitten. ;)

The evil step sisters definitely stole the show with their hilarious antics and embarrassing dancing. It was so fun!! Blakely kept saying "she is so silly!" 

Katy Ellis meeting Druscilla (the second EVIL step sister).

One of the coolest things about this dinner is that they had a true "kids buffet." There was the normal adult buffet with more exotic options, but they also had a 2 foot high "kids buffet" with mac n' cheese, nuggets and pizza. Blakely was so excited that she got to serve herself and "pick" what she wanted. Disney really is made for kids!

 

Disney at night is truly one of the most magical things I have ever seen. For a girl who loves twinkly lights, this is truly a little slice of heaven!

Blakely went crazy when she saw the castle all lit up for the holidays.

For her birthday, Blakely had received a Disney Gift card. That night before the parade, I took her to the "Princess Couture" shop to spend it. She picked out this Anna doll from Frozen. I thought she might have a hard time deciding what she would want, since the whole store is all princess stuff. But she immediately picked out this particular doll and stuck to it, even after perusing the whole store. She kept saying "I lub her mama. I lub her." I wish I could bottle up that sweet voice; so sweet.

After shopping, we found a spot on the sidewalk to watch the Electric parade (Blakely is actually sitting on trashcan... real classy). She was very excited, not because she knew what was about to happen, but because there were 100s of other kids getting really excited too!

Katy Ellis had PRIMO seating from GrandPop's shoulders. She was mesmerized by all the lights and costumes. Lucky girl!

Blakely loved it and kept pointing to everything and telling us all about Cinderella, the mice, Mickey, etc. She went crazy every time a new float came by. Her favorite was definitely Cinderella. Duh.

After the parade we watched the fireworks show, Wishes. It was amazing!! Where we watched it from there were fireworks going off to the left and the right. Watching these two you would have thought they were at a tennis match. Every firiework (of which there were 100s), Blakely would say "Oooo, Pridy!" She loved it. So glad we got to enjoy this magical night with our girls.

As we were leaving they turned the whole castle pink. Blakely thought it was just for her.

A perfect end, to a perfect night. Can't wait for our next trip to Disney!!

Disney 2015: Digital Download

January 5-11th: Digital Disney

Ok...so I made an executive decision after the first day in Disney. Day one in Magic Kingdom, I brought my big camera and made my family pose for a LOT of pictures. I love the pictures; they are great... but I decided after that first day to just take candid pictures with my iPhone. I did this for several reasons.

1) I really, really wanted to be PRESENT for this vacation and be able to remember the girls reactions.
2) I didn't want the responsibility of having to haul around a large, expensive camera. When you go to Disney with an almost 1 and 3 year old, you have to bring a LOT of stuff... and my real camera was just extra baggage.
3) I think my new iPhone 6 takes great pictures!!

So no complaining if some of these pictures aren't perfect... the memories ARE perfect, and that means a whole lot more!! We had a truly magical vacation to Disney World... it sounds trite given that Disney is practically synonymous for magic. BUT IT WAS! It was truly magical.

DAY ONE: MAGIC KINGDOM

My girl and I waiting in line for Dumbo... AGAIN!

All told we spent 5 days in the parks. We spent 3 in Magic Kingdom, 1 in Animal Kingdom and 1in Hollywood Studios. Every morning, we would sleep in, have a big breakfast in the room and then head to which ever park we had chosen for that day. We didn't rush or run around like crazy. We just enjoyed being together and whatever we got to do, we got to do. This is the ONLY way to do Disney with littles... or it could get stressful FAST. We saw lots of other little kiddos having some major, magical meltdowns. Thankfully we never had one! Whew!

We usually only stayed in the parks until 1 or 1:30pm, and then we would head back to the room for naptime. This worked out great, because this gave the adults some down time to play cards, read, nap and prepare dinner. Since we decided to do our dinners in our condo, we decided we would go all out! We made salmon, steak, roasted chicken, etc. It was so nice and relaxing to enjoy that time together. After dinner, we would bathe the girls and put them in their jammies and then head out to watch the outdoor movie on the big screen. It was cold, so we often had to bundle up and take blankets. This was one of our favorite things to do after a long day!

GrandAnnie and her girl riding Dumbo... AGAIN!

In our world, this is practically a date! HA! So romantic.

It's A Small World... an oldie, but a goodie. :)

The Journey of the Little Mermaid

Blakely was so excited for this ride! She loves Ariel... she did great, but I think the Sea Witch scared her a little. GrandAnnie told us Blakely said "I don't want to look. Too scary," and covered her eyes when the ride showed Ursula. To be honest, I find her a little terrifying too, girl!

 DAY TWO: ANIMAL KINGDOM

Day two: We headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Here is KK with her GrandPop and GrandAnnie waiting to get in. I told you... if you see a picture of KE from this trip; you will also see GrandPop. These two were inseparable during this trip.

The boys and their best girls getting ready to go on an African Safari. Blakely loved getting to ride in the bumpy jeep and see all the African animals up close.

Richard and I had debated whether to bring Katy Ellis. She still takes two naps a day, and we didn't know if it would be fair to her to be out all morning. I am SO, SO, SO thankful we decided to bring her. She had a great time and pushed through like a trooper. Occasionally, she would nap in the stroller, but for the most part she was just happy to be with everyone. Again, she is the BEST baby... like EVER. My memories of her with GrandPop on this trip will be ones I will cherish forever. His love and care for her was so evident; he wasn't going to let her miss out on anything!

It's a Bugs Life... a little scary if you have little ones. We EMERGENTLY had to take Blakely out when the evil grasshopper showed up and turned out the lights.

One of Blakely's favorite activities from our day in Animal Kingdom was the petting zoo at Rafiki's Planet Watch. We got to take a real train there, and then she got to pet and brush the goats and pigs. She might grow up to be an animal groomer... she would have brushed those goats ALL DAY LONG. She loved it!

I think her bow is BIGGER than Minnie Mouse's in this picture! HA!

We saw two great shows while in Animal Kingdom: The Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo: The Musical. Great choices if you are traveling with little kids. Enjoyable for both toddlers and adults.

Oddly enough, one of Blakely's favorite activities was riding the bus back and forth from Old Key West. I, on the other hand, could have done without the bus rides.

 DAY THREE: MAGIC KINGDOM

Day 3: Back to Magic Kingdom. If you have little kids, then the best park is definitely Magic Kingdom. Lots of rides, shows and character meets that ANYONE, including Katy Ellis, could ride.

Over the holiday, Katy Ellis developed the most ridiculously adorable grins. She squints her eyes closed, wrinkles her nose, shows her teeth and goes "hee-hee-hee" with her nose. On an adult.... ridiculous. On Katy Ellis.... ADORABLE!!

This is a picture of GrandAnnie and GrandPop waiting with Katy Ellis to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella. Katy Ellis was super brave and excited. She kept trying to jump into their arms. Blakely.... now that's a different story.

When you ask Blakely, "what was your favorite part about Disney World?" she has consistently told everyone that meeting Rapunzel was her favorite. That shouldn't be so odd, but if you had been there you would be totally shocked by this declaration. She got so nervous and shy, that she cried and begged us to leave. After about 5 minutes of Katy Ellis meeting the princess and taking pictures, Blakely was calm and asked to meet them WITH Daddy holding her.

She even worked up the courage to ask Cinderella for her autograph. I guess her reaction is kind of normal. I think I would be extremely nervous meeting my favorite actor or actress. It was just so shocking... because meeting the princesses was ALL she had talked about leading up to the trip. And ALL she talked about after the experience.

Again Katy Ellis was fearless! She would have gone home with them if we had let her.

I was super impressed with the princesses; they were great actresses. No matter what happened, they ALWAYS stayed in character. Rapunzel was so good with Blakely and talked with her about her first day out of the tower too, and how she was a little nervous. No matter what we said or did, she stayed Rapunzel.

Typical.

One of our favorite things in Magic Kingdom was the Carousel. We rode it at least once every time we went to Magic Kingdom. Blakely really liked to ride in the seats that don't move. I thought this was odd, until she explained. She said she was riding in Cinderella's carriage and all the horses were pulling her carriage to the ball!! Love her little imagination.

Jungle Cruise... a little lame, after you have been on a real safari in Animal Kingdom, but Blakely loved it! The simpler the ride, the more she enjoyed it. This would be my BIG recommendation to anyone considering a trip to Disney with littles: keep it simple, don't do anything remotely scary, go slow and stick to your sleep schedule. Recipe for a happy Disney vacation.

She liked the Winnie the Pooh ride; she LOVED the little Winnie the Pooh house in a tree that you can go in while waiting in line.

Seriously, BIGGEST smiles of the whole vacation. She kept asking me to take her picture in Pooh's house, and if you know Blakely at all... you know that she NEVER asks for a picture.

Blakely is an amazing big sister. She is always willing to help me with Katy Ellis. We had stayed a little too long in the park, and Katy Ellis was WAY ready for her bed. I told Blakely "make KK smile," and she had her giggling all the way home. Such sweet sisters! I pray they stay this close as they grow up!

Blakely holding hands with GrandPop. Making some wonderful memories with his girls!
It is always so fun to watch him with the girls... growing up he had two boys, so this is his first time around with little girls. I think he has gotten the hang of it!!

On our way to the movies!!

Bundled up and ready to watch "Frozen" on the big screen!! One of our favorite things to do in the evenings was to go watch the movie at 7pm on big screen at our resort. It was a different movie every night, and for the most part, we were the only ones there. So much fun to snuggle together before bedtime.

 

Blakely just loved seeing the castle!! Every time we passes it, she would be like "Daddy! Look! The castle! Look!"

DAY FOUR: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS 

A friend of mine had recommended buying Disney trinkets for Blakely before we left for the trip, because she said that prices in Disney were really high. This was a great recommendation, and so every day I would get a prize for her out of my luggage and tuck it in my bag for the day. Then, I would pull it out during a low moment during the day.

This worked out great! Blakely was so good, and she never even asked for anything in any of the stores. This made it such a pleasure to be able to surprise her with little gifts! She had two favorite things that I gave her. This light up Cinderella wand you see in her hand and a Minnie Mouse doll.

Hollywood Studios. This was a very relaxing day. We went to 4 shows and Blakely got to meet lots of characters, too!! We saw Muppets 3D, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Disney Junior.

Meeting Minnie Mouse was a special, surprise treat! We were walking around Art of Animation wasting time before our next show, when a women approached us and said "Minnie Mouse is in that back room, and there is no wait!" This was odd, since there were no signs indicating she was back there... but we decided we would check it out. And lo-and-behold, there was Minnie Mouse in her boudoir!

Blakely was super excited to meet her, and kept telling Minnie that she had already met Mickey. Minnie mouse kissed Blakely's broken arm and gave her a big hug! Blakely was so, so excited!!

Next, Blakely saw Daisy and yelled "Daisy Duck, Mama!!" There were only a couple of kids in line, so we jumped in and met her, too!! It was so funny; Blakely would mimic whatever Daisy did. If Daisy blew a kiss, Blakely blew a kiss. If Daisy waved, Blakely would wave too! So adorable!

Mommy loves Daisy, too! In 2nd grade, my mom made me a Daisy Duck Halloween costume... of course I was adorable!

Blakely's favorite thing she did the whole trip was the Disney Junior Show and meeting Sofia the First. If you have kids who watch Disney Junior at all, then they will LOVE this show! It included ALL Blakely's favorites: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The best moment is when they yell "Time to count our gold doubloons!" and thousands of confetti gold doubloons shoot out of the ceiling. Blakely (and every kid in the room) jumped up and started screaming like they had won the lottery. It was priceless!

 

After we left the Disney Junior Show, Richard and Blakely disappeared. We couldn't find them for like 10 minutes, and then Blakely comes running up to us with a HUGE grin telling us that she met Sofia the First! Rich said when they left the show she saw her, and immediately ran over to meet her! This is shocking with how standoffish she had been with other characters. Richard said she ran straight into her arms!

Blakely was so proud! After meeting Sofia, she kept jumping up and down in her stroller saying "Oh my gosh! I met Sofia!! AAAAHHHH!!! I lub her! I lub Sofia! I met Sofia the First!!!" She was over-the-moon excited!!

 

After our last show, we sent the boys off to ride Rockin' Roller coaster and Ms. AnnMarie and I headed to the back lot with the girls for Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Katy Ellis loved getting to crawl around and have some time out of the stroller to stretch. The boys LOVED Rockin' Roller coaster... Richard will even occasionally mention to me now (weeks later) how awesome it was. Hee hee. I HAD told them that it was amazing, but I don't think they believed me. I think they thought I was a light weight when it came to roller coasters...to their surprise I am not. Ha!

 

DAY FIVE: LAST DAY IN MAGIC KINGDOM

Peter Pan's Flight was amazing! You get to ride in your own pirate ship and fly over London and Neverland with Peter Pan. Blakely kept saying "I'm a real pirate! I'm a pirate like Jake!"

Carousel.... AGAIN! Simple, but one of her favorites.

Last carousel ride for this trip to Disney! Hope she is still little enough to love it next time we come!

I swore I wouldn't ride this ride. Just thinking about it now makes me dizzy! But my girl wanted to ride the "T-pardy!" and there was no line.

KE and GrandPop were brave and rode with us! Feeling nauseated just thinking about it. At first, Blakely loved it, and then near the end she said "I feel dizzy, mama. No more." Praise Him! Cause this Mama COULD NOT ride it again! Hope she remembers that feeling the next time we are in Disney! Ha!

All week, we didn't wait in lines because we had fast passes or there were no lines. However, our last day was a beautiful Saturday and also the day of the Disney Marathon. The park was packed!

This was the only ride we had to wait in line for, and we only waited 20 minutes! No big deal, great time of year to go to Disney!

Even KE got to ride!

Astro-Orbiter Selfies!

Had to watch the Mickey and Princesses show just one more time...a favorite.

Last time around the park on the Train! Blakely kept "pulling" with her arm and yelling "Toot-toot! Choo-choo!"

 

 

One last look at the castle, and it is so long Disney World! We will see you next time!!

P.S. When we left our resort the next morning at 6am, it also was the morning of the 1/2 marathon. There were tons of fireworks, helicopters and magical music in the air! Blakely thought Disney World was saying good-bye! A truly magical vacation from beginning to end! Made so many wonderful memories that I will cherish forever!! Thank you GrandAnnie and GrandPop for coming with us and making this trip even more magical! It would not have been the same without y'all!