Disneyland

My mom took all of us girls (and Michael) to Disneyland for Christmas. It was absolutely magical. I had not been for a few years so I was excited to begin with. What I didn't expect was how incredible it was to see the wonderment of this magical place through the eyes of a child. NK was so in awe of everything she saw. I know she is still a bit young, her excitement for Disneyland and the characters will grow as she does, but it was still a great experience. Unfortunately it rained for most of the morning. And it was COLD! It was manageable, but we so-calers don't do cold. We made it through, I felt bad that NK was chilled all day. Mommy lesson #763 always pack warm gear when the slightest chance of rain. We bought her a beanie- that lasted about 5 minutes. I also bought her a pair of "minnie mouse" crocs with warm fuzzies on the inside because she had soaked through her robeez.

Nellie was a trooper. She went on It's a Small World, Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, the Jungle Cruise, the Carousal, and had a blast in Toontown.

Oh How You've Been Neglected!

To say that I have neglected the blog is an understatment. To say that I have completely forgot about it is much more acurate. Since that last entry my life has been a whirlwind. Starting October 1, I began a new job as a kindergarten teacher. Having to start up a new class a few weeks into the school year was tough work. Being a first year teacher is tough to begin with! By mid-November I felt like my head was above water (just slightly!) and I had gotten into a groove. Besides all the happenings on the workfront, my little NK is growing into such a neat little person. She is 18 months old! She is just a little ball of energy who never stops. By the time she goes to bed mommy is exhausted. Between work and NK this mommy is very busy.

Right now I am enjoying my 2 week winter break. A much needed break! We have been having a great time. I am just loving being home with NK (and Shane is on vacation too!) and having nothing on my mind. Well that's not true, I have a million things on my mind, things I want to finish, to do with NK, and cleaning projects. I know, my mind never sleeps or stops. Over break I want to work on NK's baby album. I am so excited about it. I bought it here and love that someone else did all the hard work. I just have to put the pictures and some journaling in! I also need to finish making NK's food for her kitchen. Santa brought NK a kitchen and I thought it would be a neat idea to make all sorts of felt food for NK to "cook" with. I have also been wanting to start some montessori activities with NK. I love this blog here. This is an amazing woman dedicated to her daughter. She has great ideas on activities to do. And finally the cleaning projects: this is my mother in me, I swear! There is something about having time off and feeling the need to clean something. After Christmas we did a complete overhaul of NK's bedroom. It was time to transition into "little girl" room. We packed away many toys we plan to keep for the next baby and must have donated about four large trash bags of clothes and toys. She now has her darling little girl's room. We bought a table and chairs from Ikea and set them up on a rug in front of her kitchen. We made an art corner with the easel grandma and grandpa gave her for Christmas. I have a few more things I want to finish to make it complete. We also did and overhaul of our room and the kitchen and we would like to shampoo the carpets if we have time.

I will post some highlights of our holiday seperately. I have a tons of pictures to go through. I will leave you with this one:

NK: "That's mine, Bailey. Don't touch it, or else!"