The Most Magical place on Earth (a month ago)

I left off as we were getting ready to go to Disney with the boys.  Somehow the past month has gotten away from me...maybe it was the school, the household chores, the three kids, the full time job...who knows??  We took off to Orlando at the end of September. Bella stayed with my parents.  We spent 4 lovely days and 5 nights in truly the most magical place on earth.  I expected to have fun because my kids were having fun.  What I did not expect was to have so much fun ourselves.  Julian and I had a blast.  It was fun to see the kids experience everything, but we enjoyed ourselves as well!  The boys were troopers (except at dinners...which we are never good at anyways)...we were in the parks until midnight on two of the days and I never once heard them whine about their legs being tired.  It was very nice to travel without a diaper bag and a stroller.  We have decided that we will go back in a few years when Bella is tall enough to go on the rides (for those of you who want to know...40-44 inches is a key number when you are talking about height requirements).  We stayed at a beautiful Disney resort call the Wilderness Lodge which looked like the most immense, gorgeous log structure you have ever seen.  We used the pool on the first day we were there, but really just used the room to crash in after our long days.  The boys had bunk beds and were thrilled to pieces about them.  Max was able to ride everything we were.  He did get on Space Mountain once and screamed "I am going to die" throughout the ride.  Drew loved Thunder Mountain and we went on it over and over agian.  There were barely any lines and we really were able to ride everything we wanted to without much trouble.  A Small World was closed, which was a little sad, because I remember riding that with my family when I was little...guess that just means we have to go back.  We went to the Halloween party on the last night that we were there and the parade and fireworks were awesome.  There was a headless horseman on a real horse that rode in front of the parade.  Drew was so worried about his head really was.  All the villians were out and I guess that is the only time of year that they all come out to "play".  The Toy Story ride in Hollywood Studios was a big hit too...it by far had the longest wait of any ride we did.  It was sad to come home and get back into the daily grind.  It was a wonderful escape and a great family vacation.  I am already ready to go back again...to bad the bill was around $3000.

What a super awesome, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, spectacular, magical time we had!

The many moods of Bella





The post tonight will be short and sweet...I have just spent the entire day either in class or studying for class...though it is not entirely in vain. I am doing this because our family is heading to Disney on Sunday and I want to be free of as much stress as possible!  I am posting a few pictures of our sweet (and sometimes not so sweet) baby Bella.  Both Julian and I are amazed at how much she changes everyday and all of the fun (and not so fun) things she is doing these days.  We are so lucky, and I mean lucky to have this adorable little girl in our family.  I marvel everyday (yes, she is 1 1/2 and I still marvel) at the fact that I even have a daughter...it brings tears to my eyes on a regular basis that I get the privilege and honor to raise a little girl (I may not say the same thing when she is a teenager).

eating at the island with the "big kids"...

she demanded that she sit up here and not in her booster...




 



our first true arms flailing temper tantrum over a bottle of propel...really??

Bella is watching her favorite tv show...elmo...without her brothers around...can you tell

she is enjoying herself??

One Less Front Tooth

What a perfect time for my weekly update.  Last night, after a little pulling and pushing, Drew lost one of his two front teeth.  It had been very loose for a while and we decided last night that it just had to go.  He was very proud of it and looked at himself in the mirror A LOT after the event.  The tooth went into a bag and into his tooth fairy pillow.  Drew was a little concerned that the Tooth Fairy was going to take the tooth when she left her obligatory dollar, but much to our surprise when he woke up this morning the tooth and the money were in the pocket...smart Tooth Fairy!  He packed up his tooth in his bookbag today to show his teacher..too bad for her!  Just another exciting week in the Garro household. 

A million dollar smile

Priceless!

....And off they go!

Today marked the first day that all 3 kids were officially in school.  Max actually started his 4 year old preschool class at St. Andrews yesterday, but Bella had her official first day today (even though she threw up in the car on the way to school and hence will have her real first day on Monday).  Mommy had class today as well and so Noma Jonas took everyone to school.  It is quite a challenge to drop Drew off around 8:45 and get over to preschool by 9:00.  At some point we will all get into a routine, but things still feel quite out of sorts!  I am tired tonight and do not have any exciting words...but I will get a couple of pics up to show you the 3 big kids!  Wow...I just can not believe how fast they grow!

He looks angelic...right??

not exactly the smiling group  (except Noma)

he was supposed to holding up a #1 for the first day of school

...our sweet baby girl

..the best shot of them together...pretty pathetic

...sorry for the graphic pic...thought it was kind of funny!

outside of school (I think he has enough of the picture taking!)