Sydney's First Ballet Recital

Sydney had her first ballet recital and she did awesome!
She was super nervous and worried about performing on a stage, but once she got there and saw her friends all dressed and matching she calmed down and started to get excited.
Sydney and Joey have been friends since they were two, they look so grown up here!

The performance was very cute.

Posing with her girlfriends after the show - Rachel and Joey.

We are so proud of her!

Our Little Girls' Dream Days

We had the best time ever at Disney World! I think the girls were so excited they could barely stand it, and Christian was the best little newborn traveler ever (at 6 weeks old!). I was told by several friends that going to Disney World with a baby was easy and dreamy and they were right. We were able to take Christian on almost every ride - he happily slept in the front carrier pack and pretty much only woke up to eat and smile. DW really is one of the most family friendly places ever - they have thought of everything!

We have so many favorites but one of the most memorable experiences was having lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table at the castle. It was awesome! The kids were in heaven watching for each of the princesses and when they came to our table they were beside themselves with excitement. The princesses were so gracious and sweet, they got some adorable smiles out of Christian, too. He is already a lady charmer! (It was expensive, but Justin and I both agreed that it was worth it for the girls, and the food was yummy.)

The following pictures are in no real order, just a smattering of our fun time. . .

This is one of my favorites of Daddy and his girls watching a show put on my Mickey and Minnie and all of the other characters.

The girls showing Cinderella their new princess necklaces, thanks to the dollar section at Target!

Oh, Brooklyn. . .ha ha!

Sydney so excited!

A long and exhausting day. . .time to get some rest.

Our Day at the Animal Kingdom

Our first Disney day was at the Animal Kingdom. It was a great park to start with because it wasn't too overwhelming for any of us. We had a great time seeing all the animals and checking out the rides and shows. We loved the Lion King show - easily one of the best shows! The pictures are in random order, but show some of our fun.

My friend Kari warned me that the "Bug's Life" 3-D experience was very scary for her kids, I got talked into it by someone (ahem!) and this is the last time Brooklyn smiled - right as the show was starting. The rest of it terrified her! I felt horrible, but we couldn't really get up and leave. So, we learned from our experience and stuck with very kid-friendly rides for Brooklyn. Sydney, on the other hand, was a little daredevil! She couldn't get enough of the roller coasters and wanted to ride each of them multiple times.

Meeting the characters was so fun and we found that Animal Kingdom was the best place for us to see the ones we were most interested in. We met Mickey first - he was very cute! Although Brooklyn was a little freaked out over meeting him.

She refused to say hi to Minnie, Sydney was super excited to meet Minnie. She talked about her Christmas dress for awhile.

Goofy is the one that broke Brooklyn back into the characters - he was so silly and funny and eased her fear. Both girls thought he was so funny!

Another fun and delicious meal was at Ohana's Polynesian restaurant - it was very family friendly.

We gave Princess nightgowns to the girls the first night - they were very excited.

A few of my favorite Sessions women!

The first week of November my three sisters came out to visit (my Mom was already here) for our annual sister's weekend. Unfortunately Kara and Celeste couldn't make it this time, but we hope they will next year! I was so happy to have them come - just what I needed after the craziness of having Christian and adjusting to our new life with three kids. They made me feel so loved and kind of grounded me back to who I am. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's one of those things that family can do for you. Plus, we talked until late at night, cooked and shared recipes (we all love food a little too much!), they were able to come to my baby shower, and they even helped me with some cleaning! It was so great to have them here. We had photos taken by Jill while they were here. They turned out great!

At the baby shower. . .

I love my Mom and sisters!

We all loved having them here (especially Justin :)...), but Sydney really loved their attention and was so excited to be one of the girls. She really wanted a picture with all of them - she was so happy here!