Disney Day #1

Dreams do come true.

Well, I can’t exactly say that taking two 2 ½ year olds to Disney World was ever in my dreams; however, here we are!! And the boys are doing really well—likely because of the patient people we are traveling with!

We opted to drive-thru-the-night, which was a big success. After several movies, the boys did just as they were supposed to and slept. As for baby Tucker, well, he’s at the perfect age  (which I barely remember for the boys) and he just slept the whole trip away. Minus a long stop for breakfast, it only took 16 hours in the car---not bad considering it’s 11 hours to Grandma & Grandpa Raeder’s.  

Day #1: I have decided that dealing with Evan and Jaden in Disney World is more than a full-time job! Food: I must plan plenty of snacks to have in the parks, and a variety of foods. When they get hungry, they are hungry! We have a rotation of two single umbrella strollers and a carrier (around the body front or back) for the three kids. It has worked well so far. Evan is content anywhere!

We basically have our own personal Disney Tour Guides---who know where to go what time of day, what is best for 2 year olds, where the fast-pass kiosks are, where the best food and drinks are at Epcot, and the best seats in the house to watch the fireworks. We are truly blessed on this trip. Since Brooke worked here for a semester and met her friend Alex- who currently works here with Tad, they are up to date on all the new things to do at the parks. 

We had a wonderful and busy first day. We started out at Animal Kingdom. The boys love animals, so it was fun to watch their excitement on the Safari. Let’s just say that before we left they found an ant in our condo, and they were SO excited to follow this ant around……that excitement quadrupled as they saw all the animals from their favorite book ‘Goodnight Gorilla!’

We had our first character meeting with Tigger and Winnie the Pooh……Evan screamed and had a death grip on Nathan, so he just waved from afar. Jaden and Tucker were so excited!

We tried to be the smart pro-active parents and come back to the condo for a late lunch and naps, before going back to the park for the evening. The boys were exhausted, but took a while to settle down for naps. But sleep always wins……at least for Jaden. Evan didn’t nap- went swimming with us instead (don’t worry, our room is right next to the pool and a monitor reaches!) 

After naptime, we went to Epcot to see the big ‘golf ball.’ Thanks to Brooke & Dan, we all got to meet Pluto and Minnie Mouse! I was glad Evan had practice at Animal Kingdom with Pooh, as he did great with these characters. We are making progress!

At night we were fortunate to go with Alex and Tad on a pontoon boat ride and get a tour of the lake, see the lighted boat parade, and the amazing fireworks from our view on the lake. Unfortunately, it was dark and I had nothing to entertain the boys for the first 30 minutes of the ride---so they were very fussy. Thankfully there was snacks and water on the boat that they devoured—but of course screamed loudly every time they wanted water or popcorn! I am sure as my dad says about kids in church, they seemed louder to us as they did everyone else. After the parade started, they were quiet and loved the lights and fireworks. Jaden ooh’ed and awe’ed at every single firework explosion!! Evan; well, he fell asleep during the show. Our very busy, very amazing day #1 had finally caught up to him!

Cabin Fever!

Apparently, South Dakota Winters can happen in Illinois! It has been a long winter- cold and snowy. Keeping Evan and Jaden occupied, on something other than the iPad, has taken creativity, patience, and a little imagination.

Here are Evan and Jaden's top-ten tips for having fun while staying warm inside!

1. Build lots of forts. Ingredients: an empty coffee table, all the pillows from two couches, and every stuffed animal you can find to lay on top.  

 2. Stay connected to friends with your phones and welcome them to your house by wearing their boots. 

3. Take a day to clean out your pantry. Tip- opening and dumping the food on the floor motivates the parents to organize and clean quicker than just telling them to clean. 

4. Host a concert. Everyone likes to relax to some music. 

 5. Add some Color to your life! 

(note the difference between E & J even in their coloring:)

6. Create a bus! What you need: take a clothes basket, throw all the clothes that are inside of it over the railing from 2nd floor to 1st floor. Then use the empty basket as a bus! Take turns pushing each other around the hall.....for those daring enough, push your brother down the stairs. 

7. Take a nap. Or just pretend. It helps to have kitty-cat sleeping bags made from your Grandpa's shirts:) 

 8. Bake some cookies. Added bonus, work on your alphabet while eating them! 

(note: mom did NOT let us eat the entire J & E cookies!!) 

9. Make a mess. How else will you learn how to clean up? (this mess was made in 3 minutes). 

 10. When all other resources have been exhausted: turn to the iPad!

Amusing Adventures with Auntie!

Evan and Jaden were spoiled by Aunt Laurie last weekend in the Wisconsin Dells. The boys had fun sliding down the waterslides and riding cars at the indoor amusement park……wait. I should rephrase: Jaden had a blast going down the waterslides and driving cars at the amusement park………Evan, on the other-hand, enjoyed floating on the lazy river and cheering for his brother every time his go-cart went flying by. Their different personalities are too cute!

Bumper Cars

A huge ball-pit jungle gym. 

Auntie brought 3 pints of blueberries......

I don't think the boys shared any!

 Good thing Jaden didn't sleep on the top bunk as he fell out of the bottom bunk the first night :(

 Pancakes only taste good with a lot of grape jelly!

 One Cool Dude

 Another ride that Evan enjoyed watching and waving from the sidelines. 

Official SNOW day!

Since this is really truly the last day of Christmas Break (AKA the break-that-never-ends!) I thought the boys should finally get to play in the snow instead of just looking out the window saying, “shovel snow, shovel snow?” Thanks to an idea from a friend, why not bring the snow to the boys………inside!

I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy hauling 5 gallon buckets of snow inside the house (side note: a great way to get my fitbit flights of stairs in for the day!) After the tub was filled with about 50 gallons of snow……the boys put on their boots, snow suits, and mittens and ventured to where else but the bathtub!

They jabbered the whole way up the stairs when I told them what we were going to do. I’m sure in their twin talk they were saying, “I think mom has gone crazy! There is snow in our house!”

They only stood for about a second in the tub before they dug in and snow went flying! Evan loved to scooped it up with the ‘shovel’ and let it fly.

Of course their mittens didn’t stay on very long!

I knew it was coming……eating the snow! It was like ice cream to them- they couldn’t stop once they started. (Don't worry- I did dig to get snow in the middle so it was as fresh as it could be).

Evan and Jaden were dried off and everything put back normal before Dad came home!! Shhhh!