DISNEY 2012!!!

Sorry, busy week or I would have posted this sooner!  This year's trip was awesome!  Disney itself was not without it's hiccups (and yes, they will be getting a letter from me), but the family time was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  We took close to 700 pictures, so we took just a few and made the video below.

This year we had an extra long stay, 9 nights.  Mom and dad were able to join us for most of them and my brother Jeff and sister-n-law Rachel stopped in for a day on their way back from a cruise.  The only ones missing were Joshua and Stacy (brother and sister-n-law) and they were missed terribly.

For the most part, the weather was not bad.  We had a couple of pretty days and the others were mild and cloudy but "no rain" as YiaYia pointed out.  We were thankful for that!  The only bummer is we didn't get to take Boo swimming (each time she saw the sun peek out, she'd say "it's warm" in hopes that we'd rush to the pool...poor baby) but all-in-all, nothing to complain about.

We stayed at the campground which I really enjoyed.  Yes, the showers weren't always hot and the trailer we rented was more cramped than if we had rented a condo or a house but...I loved it none the less.  Brandon woke up early each morning, which would had frustrated me if we were at home, but instead I loved it because it gave me a chance to do one of my favorites things...walk around a campground at the crack of dawn.  I love early mornings period.  I don't like getting out of bed, but once I'm up, I relish them.  There's something about a new day...it's kind-of like a brand new baby, nothing has been screwed up yet.   Early mornings at a campground are especially nice because often times someone is cooking bacon and brewing coffee which combined has to be just about one of the best smells God ever created.  Honestly, if I ever get the family ranch that I want....we will eat a HUGE breakfast everyday.  Nothing better!   Well, okay...hot/fresh brownies or cookies and super cold milk at night run a close second :0)  Needless to say, we ate a lot on this trip...it was pretty great :)

Both Bailey and Brandon had a GREAT time on the trip.  Boo of course knows YiaYia and Popo so that was easy.  Brandon on the other hand only "knew" them from Skype (the flat people is what my parents call themselves) but, oh my gosh did he love them.  The only tough part was when everyone had to go home.  Don't really know how else to put it...it sucked.  It was very tough to say goodbye.

I mentioned in my previous post that Brandon LOVED the characters.  I can't say this enough.  He was a crack-up!  He would get soooo excited to see them.  He'd have this HUGE grin and his little chubby arms would flap up and down and he'd bounce in the seat or my lap.  He soaked more than a few noses with his kisses.  It was very, very cute. 

The drive wasn't bad.  On the way down, we stopped in Gainesville (Go Gators!) for the night.  That made the drive down pretty easy and on the way back, we left at dinner time (ate in the car) and stopped around 8:30pm to put the kids in their pjs; they were both out in 10 minutes so the remaining 5.5 hour drive was pretty easy (especially since Tom drove most of it :).

We've been blessed to make this trip every year since 2007...I'm hopeful that we'll be able to continue because with family and these memories....this really is the good life.

 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Our little man is 1 year old!  Hard to believe...but Brandon Elijah turned one last week, November the 19th.  We've been at Disney for the past 10 days, which is the reason for no posts.  I'll post tomorrow about our trip :)

 

Brandon experienced his first cupcake and his first haircut on his birthday.  Both were a huge success (except for the hats, he didn't like those....really hated the "first hair cut" Mickey ears as you'll see below :).  His birthday lunch was at the Crystal Palace where the characters from Winnie the Pooh visit you.  He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the characters.  All of the them that we ran into...he LOVED them all.  It was incredibly cute.  Most babies his age cry at the characters, so I think even the cast members were made happy by his response to them.  All he wanted to do was to grab them and give them kisses :)

 

Our little man is not walking, but he started pulling himself up about a week after he turned 11 months.  He now pulls himself up on anything...the fireplace, the dishwasher, mama, his sister...anything :)  At first he would get upset when he fell back on his bum, but now he's pretty use to it :)  If I hold his fingers and encourage him, he'll will take a step or two;  he also has a couple of push toys that he'll take a step or two with.

 

His sister said more words then he does at this age, but he does this super, super cute baby talk that she did not do.  The words he does say are:  mama, dada, yia-yia, bye-bye, hi, that, na-na (for banana), ni-ni (for night-night) and ba-ba (for his bottle).

 

So far, Brandon has shown himself to be a better sleeper (naps) than Boo and boy do I pray that this continues!  He is happy, energetic and a huge crack-up.  I can't even remember life before him...every once in a while I look at a picture and when I realize that it was taken before I was even pregnant with him, somehow the picture doesn't even seem real.  Is as if life didn't even exist before him.  Our family truly was not complete without him.

 

Happy Birthday little man!  We love you!!!

 

GOOD MORNING...

Just a typical morning wake-up, except usually he has his bink in his mouth but...he must have already chucked that over the side of the crib :0)   He's usually awake several minutes before I go and get him (I can see him on the video monitor).  Most mornings he sits in there and talks to himself before I go get him, some morning he'll talk and then start "bouncing".   :0) 

The small cloth you see in his hand, is actually what we call his blanket.  He sleeps with it every time he's in his crib; he'll put it both in his mouth and over his eyes (both my babies will cover their face/eyes to sleep).  It's so small because I gave it to him when he was about 8 weeks old and I was afraid that a full size blanket would be a hazard; guess it's time to "upgrade" to something larger.  Then again, I guess he could always carry this one around in his pocket :0)



HALLOWEEN...

The Siver family, is having some computer issues!  Main, what a pain those are....technology really is such a blessing and a curse!

Here are a few pics from Halloween.  Bailey was a cat this year.  Actually, we got very lucky with this costume as Boo wore it when she was 3 (only it was a dress then :0).  I was thrilled when she said she wanted to be a cat this year but I'm guessing that next year we'll actually have to break down and buy the girl a costume.  Then again, who knows...in my family we were really good at using Dad's work clothes and being a hobo :0)

This was the first year that Bailey actually went trick-or-treating.  We had been to the mall before, and last year I guess we did a little at Walt Disney World however, this was the first year she actually went around a neighborhood and went door-to-door.  We went with her friend Reese, in their neighborhood.  It was a GREAT time!  They live in a very nice, family friendly neighborhood and I wish I would have taken pictures of the streets, because you would have been able to see the nice/cute homes with the small well manicured lawns and well behaved kids and families (tons of them) walking the neighborhood....VERY Norman Rockwell.  It was awesome.  Brandon didn't dress up this year, it was a little chilly so I bundled him up and he snuggled in as I wore him around the neighborhood; he had a great time watching the kids.  Next year he's going to be Mickey Mouse :0)

Below, first two pictures are of Boo at school and the last one is with Reese before we started trick-or-treating (I took Bailey's coat off for the picture).