We Are Going To...

I realize that no one reads this blog anymore, not even family, and that's ok.  I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately (or for the past year or more).  However, we have a pretty exciting surprise for the kids in a couple weeks and I've been getting my craft on lately.  I want to document everything somewhere other than facebook, so this is really just for me.  But if you want to read along, then welcome back!

We have a gift for each child to open.  Each one is part of a "puzzle" that's pretty easy to figure out.

Disney World is in the process of testing something new called My Magic+ and we were asked to participate in the testing.  The bracelets you see are called MagicBands and are Disney's new way of doing pretty much everything.  These bands open your hotel door, they are your key into the parks, they reserve fastpasses at rides, you can even make purchases with them (ok, so the kids can't do that).  

Since our last trip, we really do talk about Disney a lot in our house.  It was such a fun vacation and we made some great memories.  However, Sam and Lucy were not invited on that trip and we decided to go back again for a "quick trip" this fall as a family of six.  Since we talk about all things Disney, the kids know what the MagicBands are and they understand what they do.  They know that a MagicBand is your ticket into Disney World.  I even casually asked them what colors they liked the best.  Because our bands came shipped to us in four different boxes, we thought it would be fun to incorporate them into our big reveal.  So each child opens his/her own MagicBand with a little piece of our message to them.  

I don't think it will take long to figure it out!

We've moved, again!

If you're interested in continuing to follow along with our family's adventures, just click RIGHT HERE and check out our newest blog!


Here's the actual address: http://mccravy6.blogspot.com/


Right now we're picking up right where we left off with our Disney World trip, so check out the new blog for pictures from Hollywood Studios!

Update

Just letting all my faithful readers (aka family) know that my blog can no longer accept pictures so I'm in the process of deciding what to do about that. I've reached the maximum amount I can upload, so for now you will just have to settle for an update without pictures.

Lucy has had a big month. She's doing fabulous in her big girl bed. She goes to bed without any fuss. In fact, as I'm walking out of her bedroom every night, she usually yells "bye" to me while waving. It's adorable! She's also started to show interest in walking - finally! She's only taken about 10 steps at once before falling, but she's getting better every day and finally enjoys walking behind push toys instead of just pushing my kitchen chairs around! At her 15 month appointment she was 24 lbs (75th percentile) and I can't remember how tall she was, but it was 95th percentile. She's a big girl!

Anna has a dance recital in a few weeks, Jack has kindergarten graduation, and Sam has his 3rd birthday. We have a busy few weeks ahead of us and will try to get the kinks worked out of the blog soon so you can keep up with all the fun.

We interrupt the Disney blogging to bring you a quick milestone update ...

There's something similar about all of these pictures.  Can you figure out what it is?

These pictures were taken when each of my babies first moved out of the crib and into a real bed (all are 15 months old)!  That's right, Lucy is in a big girl bed now.  Last night was her first night in it and she went to sleep without a peep.  She went down a little later than normal, but slept from 8:30 pm until 7:38 this morning without even a whimper!  I heard her come out of her room this morning, but she made a beeline for her siblings' room instead of mine and they all played together for about 30 minutes before anyone asked for breakfast.  She took a three hour nap this afternoon and then went to bed tonight with only a little fuss that stopped as soon as I closed the bedroom door.  So far the transition has been smooth sailing, but we will see how tonight goes.

As a side note, this is the first time we've taken the crib down without having to put it right back up only a few short months later for a brand new baby.  Surprisingly, I'm not even sad that this is the last baby I will ever transition out of a crib.  I feel so very blessed to be Mama to these four precious gifts from God and my heart is full with our sweet family of six.

Disney World Day 1 - Epcot

For those who don't know, we recently took the older kids on a trip to Disney World.  It was kind of a last minute trip (we only booked it two months ago), and we kept the whole thing a surprise from the kids.  My parents came to town to stay with Sam and Lucy while the rest of us loaded up and headed to sunny Florida!  We didn't tell Jack and Anna where we were going until we got in the car and I don't think they really believed us at first.  We video taped us telling them and it was kind of a let down - no screaming or anything!  Once they realized we were really going and started looking through books, they got super excited about the whole thing.  We made it to our resort eight hours later and the kids were pumped once they saw the pool shaped like a bowling pin!  We swam and hung out at the resort for the evening and then got up bright and early for our first day at the parks.

On the way to Disney World!

Two tiny kids at the base of Tramp are ready to go swimming.

Day 1 - Got our maps and ready to head into Epcot.

First stop was the Character Spot.

Love Jack's expression in this one.

Anna was giddy when she saw Minnie.  She definitely got the prize for getting the most excited first!

Complaining that the sun is in their eyes!

Oh no, she's been swallowed by a shark!

The Flower and Garden Festival was going on while we were here and the flowers were beautiful!

Peter Pan and Captain Hook and a boy with the sun in his eyes again.

Look how excited Anna is to see Daisy.  She would not stop bouncing with glee!

We took a break and headed back to the hotel for swimming and resting, and then came back to Epcot for more rides and a special dinner.

There were topiaries of the characters all over the place made with the flowers, which was a really neat thing to see.

Anna donned some of her finest attire in order to have a special dinner with some very special people.

We ate in a castle in the Norway Pavillion in the World Showcase part of Epcot.   The food was wonderful and Anna got to meet five lovely ladies, otherwise known as princesses!

This is how Jack felt about dining with a bunch of princesses, but in the end he was a good sport and even videoed when they came to our table to talk to Anna!

First up was a special picture with Belle.

Once we were seated Cinderella came by for a visit.

Anna changes her mind daily about who her favorite princess is, but on this day she claimed it was Aurora and was thrilled when she came over to see us.  See how she's looking up at her in awe!

My girl is glowing right about now!

Snow White came by and showed her how to hold her dress like a real princess.

Next up was the princess promenade, where the girls paraded around behind a princess waving to the diners.

 This is one happy girl!

Last up was Ariel who was so friendly and fun!

We ended our night with Illuminations (fireworks show), but no pictures of that.  Our first day was full of fun.  Jack's favorite thing of the day was riding Soarin' (a ride that makes you feel like you're flying) twice.  Anna absolutely LOVED dining with the princesses and still gets excited when talking about it today.  She did not like the dark rides, even if they were not scary.  I learned that everything at Disney World is really loud, but so much fun, especially through the eyes of your children!