Five on Friday

I'm linking up with Darci, Natasha, April and Christina for Five on Friday!

 I happened to try this Samoa Coffee Creamer while I was at the hair salon a couple weeks ago and I LOVED it! It's super yummy. I highly recommend it. :-)

We are in the early stages of re-decorating Jackson's bedroom. His room is still decorated from when he was a newborn. I love his room, but it's time we made it for a "big boy"! He loves cars/trains/trucks, so we want to decorate it in a car/transportation theme. These are my ideas and I'm hoping to get everything we need to make the switch soon. I'd really love to surprise him with it. I may have him stay the night at my parent's house while we fix it all up for him. :-) I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out.

 This past Saturday, I introduced Jackson to home-made donuts. We made them as a kid with my Mom and Grammy. They are just canned biscuits with the center cut out. We deep fry them and then add powdered sugar once they've cooled. :-) As a kid, we always used the lid off a salt & pepper shaker to cut out the hole for the center, but I thought it would be fun to use my small star shaped cookie cutter. Jackson thought it was really cool too and when he was eating the little star-shaped donut holes, he said "these are dee-licious"! Day Made! It and so much fun.

 I took Avery's 9 month pictures earlier this month and I am so in love with them. I will post them soon! I got them printed last Friday and I'm so happy with how they turned out. I love having pictures of my kids all over my house. I just love seeing their smiling faces!

 And last, but certainly not least, is there anything better than having a sleeping baby in your arms? I think not! ♥

Have a great weekend!

52 Project 2015: Week 8

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

 Jackson: It's been a fairly mild Winter here in St. Louis this year, but last week we finally got enough snow to play in and Jackson was very excited. Tuesday evening, Jake took Jackson out to play in it and they built a snowman together. :-)

Avery: This was Avery's first time in the snow. She didn't seem to mind it and loved watching Jackson and Daddy play in it. :-)


(Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)

Our Arizona/California Trip: Day 4

After leaving Disneyland Friday night, we actually stayed off the property to save a little money. We stayed in a Comfort Inn and Suites just down the road. I mention this only because Jackson was asleep when we left the park and didn't wake up until the next morning. When he woke up, he went over to the window and when the scenery had changed dramatically, he was very confused. He asked us to come over and look out and when he just saw a highway, he was like "where is the ferris wheel, where is the park?" Ha, it was so cute. He didn't understand what had happened. :-)

Saturday, we got up and checked out of the hotel and headed to Santa Monica to visit the Pier. We thought Jackson would love riding the ferris wheel and he did. :-) We also rode a couple other rides and had lunch at Bubba Gump Shimp Co. After a few hours there, we drove back to Phoenix.

From the Pier.

Mickey and Minnie were there too. :-)

From the Ferris Wheel.

The Pier from the Ferris Wheel.

The view from our table at Bubba Gumps.

On our way back to Phoenix, we drove through LA. The traffic was horrible, but it was fun to see the city.

We had such a great time in California!!!

Our Arizona/California Trip: Day 3 (Disneyland Park) Part 3

So after Toon Town, we rode a few more rides and stopped for lunch. In researching the park, I saw that there was a restaurant that made a Mickey Mouse pancake and I thought that would be perfect for Jackson. So we stopped by the River Belle Terrace and got that for Jackson for lunch. 

Ha. This picture cracks me up!

Along the way we spotted the Fairy God-Mother, and though Jackson wasn't interested, my MIL and I just had to get a quick picture with her. :-) When we met her, they just happened to be playing the song Bibbity Bobbity Boo too!! So cool. 

After getting Jackson fed, we searched for a place for us to eat. We ended up eating at the French Market Restaurant. It was very tasty. :-) After lunch, we rode a few more rides and then headed over to try and get a spot on Main Street for the 4:00 Parade. While Jake, my MIL and Jim sat and waited, I took Jackson up to the front gates to see if we could find Donald and Daisy. We still never found Donald, but we did find Daisy and got a picture with her. :-)

After that, I just walked Jackson around in his stroller because I knew he wouldn't like just sitting and waiting for the parade. While I was pushing him around in the stroller, he ended up falling asleep, which worked out well. He got about a 30 minute nap before the parade started. :-)

While we waited on Main Street for the parade to start, I got a picture of the castle. I was SO disappointed that it was under construction. That was another down fall to going in the off season. Oh well, that just means we'll have to go back again. ;-)

Then right before the parade started, we tried waking Jackson up. He was not eager to wake up and was kind of grumpy about it.

But, as soon as he heard Mickey Mouse start talking, he turned that frown upside down and immediately started smiling. It was the second best moment of the day for  me.

He was mesmerized!

The first float was Frozen!

Then Mickey and Friends!

I loved watching Jackson's reaction even more than watching the parade myself! It was so cool to see it through my sweet boy's eyes. ♥

The next float was Aladdin.

The Little Mermaid.

And then Donald Duck's float! Jackson was very happy to finally see Donald!

Next up was the Tangled float.

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella were on this float as well. 

The the Lion King.

Princess and the Frog.

Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and Tinker Bell.

And last was Mary Poppins!

After the parade, we rode several more rides. It was great because Jackson was tall enough and brave enough to ride all the rides! So we rode as many as we could fit into the day. He even rode Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain!

Once it started getting close to being time for the fireworks, we grabbed a Mickey Mouse Pretzel and watched the fireworks.

Jackson's not a huge fan of fireworks, so he held on to Daddy pretty tight and didn't really watch them. Lucky for him, they do a short show during the off season. Only 5 minutes long.

After the fireworks, we bought a few souvenirs and decided it was time to leave. Jackson actually fell asleep before we even left.

I just can't say enough of what a great day it was! I think I may have had the most fun out of any of us... even Jackson. I CANNOT wait to go back. We've already started planning our next Disney Vacation!