whobody ate a late supper? {dw two}

As I said in my last post...we had a

9:00 PM

reservation at Chef Mickey's on our first night there.

 

This was not as good of an idea as I originally thought.  Since the kids barely slept all day, our meal wasn't perfect....BUT the kids still had fun seeing their most favorite characters. 

 

It goes like this:

We sit down, and the characters all take turns going from table to table...with an occasional dance party (seen below).  Keaton still wasn't feeling great, but was a champ...and had lots of fun. This picture isn't great...but you get the idea of the party.  In involves dancing and napkin waving! The kids loved it.

 

 

Cruz, however, was not amused...and was actually pretty agitated by the end of the meal.  As I said, though, he wasn't feeling great, and JUST wanted to go to bed.

 

The first character to visit was Pluto. All 3 kids gathered around him quickly and got their picture...

 

 

 I even pushed Cruz's high chair out there to get him involved too.  NOW...one bad part of our reservations being at 9 was that the kids were tired....BUT something I had not even thought about, but quickly realized....was that the CHARACTERS were also very tired.... :(  and actually didn't give us very much time or attention.  (We had done this same meal 2 years ago, and it went a lot better....)

 

I tried my best to get good pictures with them, but as I said....they were all in a hurry to get back to their doghouses, ponds, and mouse houses.... so they didn't dawdle. Oh well...the kids still loved being up close and personal with them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our late night supper was probably our worst decision of the trip (and, of course, it was all mine)...but the trip only got better from there (for the most part).  This night was one example of "extreme parenting" that didn't go so hot.  But, the pictures showed the kids having a good time...AND they got to get their favorite characters' autographs. These character meals are tons of fun....and highly recommended. Just shouldn't do it quite so late! Stay tuned! I am just going to keep on plucking away at my Disney World pictures....

whobody went to disney world? {dw one}

As I have mentioned....last week we took the whole family to Disney World...I only have 1073 pictures :) but I promise I won't share all of them. 

 

There are a lot of great ones to share...so I am going to just go day by day...and share the best ones!

 

We really had a great trip.

This picture was actually taken on our last day!

Funny...I made the kids take off their sunglasses for this picture, but I forgot.

 

 

As I said, we had a great trip.

But, there were moments.

 

Moments that I felt like our kids were too young. 

 

Moments that I felt like it was way too much work to go on a trip like this. 

 

Moments that I felt like we were pushing our kids too hard and too late. 

 

Moments that I felt like we were setting our kids up for having way too high

of expectations for having fun. 

 

Moments that I felt like a trip like this turns my kids into spoiled brats.

 

Moments that I felt like my husband would lose his 'good sport' attitude and probably hate me forever for thinking this trip was a good idea. :)

 

Moments that 4 kids felt like way too many.

 

 

 

BUT, there were also lots of

 

Moments that I could literally see the magic in my kids' eyes. 

 

Moments that Lola was smiling so big that her face had to hurt. 

 

Moments of wonder that my kids had when they were looking at the characters. 

 

Moments of excitement in the rides...especially the roller coaster. 

 

Moments when things just went right. 

 

Moments of my kids making great memories with their grandparents. 

 

Moments that I loved being on a vacation with my family.

 

Moments when 4 kids felt completely manageable. 

 

 

FIRST....the first picture I took. 

 This was the the kids on the bus that took us from the Orlando airport to our hotel....

yes, they were a little tired from traveling all day.... (I would have loved to taken a picture of the kids at the airport and on the airplane...but... just....well, things never seemed calm or in control enough to do that....and I really wasn't feeling well that day....

AND I was holding Cruz....)

 

 

We flew out of Minneapolis (which in hindsight, a smaller airport would have been much easier on this anxious Momma.)  Our flight was early, so we spent the night in a hotel in Minneapolis the night before.  The kids LOVE staying in a hotel...and really enjoyed just hanging out in the room.  Grandma Tractor actually sent along some books and popcorn that the kids really enjoyed! Did I mention this was Lola's birthday too?

 

They all slept good, except Cruz, who ended up waking up in the middle of the night with a fever. :(  We got up early and made it to the airport in plenty of time...and checking in and everything went perfectly.  I am SUCH an over packer...luckily Jason is patient with me....and strong enough to carry all of our bags.

 

The flight went well. The gate attendant really helped me out and got us ALL 6 in the same row...(she upgraded the passengers who were supposed to be sitting with 3 of us so we could all sit together) and she also 'blocked' the seat next to me so me and my "infant in arms" could have more room. (Praise the Lord!)  By the way... I love referring to Cruz as an infant....he is SO not an infant.  Cruz fell asleep on me as we were taking off....which I LOVED (and very much enjoyed throughout the trip).  Cruz doesn't normally just snuggle in and sleep on me...he is the type that just wants to be laid down in his crib and left alone.  SO...he slept for a little while and just sat nicely for the rest of flight.  It went perfectly!  We took the "Magical Express" to our hotel....and my parents met us there.

 

 

Luckily, Grandma Piano was there to help the kids check in while I checked into our room.

 

 

We then walked from the main hotel to our part of it using the 'sky bridge'...Nash LOVED this sky bridge because you could see the castle and Magic Kingdom on one side, and a lake on the other.  Although, he was convinced that the castle kept moving from one side to the other...he didn't quite 'get' that we were going different ways every time. 

 

By the way...notice Nash is rolling the suitcase along...he insisted upon being in charge of that "shuitcashe" in the airport AND at the hotel.  Little stinker.  He slowed us down a little (a lot), but felt extremely important rolling it along.

We spent a little time in our hotel room regrouping...and then headed over to Magic Kingdom for the evening.  There were lots of good things about our hotel room....full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, washer and dryer, we could see Cinderella's Castle and the fireworks from our room....but the BEST thing about it was that it was within walking distance to the Magic Kingdom.

 

  No matter how 'convenient' the monorail or any other form of transportation is...WALKING was the way to go....because then we knew exactly how long it would take. There was no waiting for anything (except Nash)...we just walked.  Here are the 3 older kids on our first walk to the Magic Kingdom. 

 

 Let it be known. Nash was ANYTHING but cooperative when it came to me taking pictures....which I think that you will notice after looking at all of our trip's pictures....

 

ALSO he is holding his Mater with wings....I picked that up for him to play with on the trip (I put it in the bag he got to open when the plane took off)....this proved to be an excellent toy for Nash. He really played with it the whole trip!

 

 

Another picture of us on the walkway (or as Lola saw it, the runway....look at her hair....your hair doesn't do that when you are walking).

 

 

When we got into the Magic Kingdom, Grandma Piano took off with the stroller and Cruz to head to Fantasyland, while we all hopped on the train.  I believe Cruz was napping.  Let me just say, if you go to Disney World, take a nice stroller.  We had a very nice double stroller to use (thanks to Elsie) and it was wonderful to have (and a dream to push...even with lots of pounds in there)....Nash was pretty stubborn about riding in it unless we forced him to...but Keaton and Lola actually hopped in there more than once...

 

and we obviously kept our

thirty-pound-non-walking-one-year-old-

who-sleeps-all-the-time-especially-when-

he-is-a-little-under-the-weather-

best-and-most-tolerant-little-brother-in-the-world

in there pretty much all of the time. 

 

My dad spent a lot of his Disney trip sitting on a bench next to Cruz in the stroller while we went on rides.  If Cruz was awake, we took him along, but if he was asleep...he stayed with Grandpa Sheryl. (I think they both enjoyed this...)

 

Did I mention that we got the kids up at FIVE that morning to get to the airport? and NONE of them slept on the plane...well I guess Cruz did for maybe 20 minutes? and I think that Nash and Cruz just took a short nap on the bus to our hotel? and that was it?

(THIS was one of those times we pushed the kids too hard...

stay tuned to the rest of the day) 

 

 

Below is a picture of Keaton on the train....he was very excited to be back at Disney World...and was actually feeling not-so-hot this day,

(of course...this wasn't a very healthy trip for us...this day

Keaton, Cruz & I were just not feeling good)

but was still a great sport and had lots of fun.

 

 

Lola was also excited for the big Disney return.

She had just turned 4 the last time we went, but remembered every bit of it....

and was very excited to experience it as a brave six year old.

 

 

This is Nash waiting in line for Dumbo.... a little worried...but mostly excited.

 

 

 

AND this is one of my favorite pictures... :) just because it is so cute. Jason and Nash in a Dumbo across the ride from Lola and me. 

We rode Dumbo countless times...and every time Nash would yell

"HEY MOM! OVER HERE MOM!

I BEHIND YOU!

 WOOK OVER HERE!

HEY GRANDMA!

WOOK! HERE I AM!" 

He really liked the Dumbo ride.

 

 

The other 'family favorite' in the Magic Kingdom is the carousel.  We were lucky enough to get on both of them lots of times without waiting long.  That night it rained a little while we were on the train...(so only my mom got soaked) and then just misted the rest of the night. It was enough to clear the crowds out of the park a little...but not enough to ruin our night.  It was actually pretty refreshing to be in a warm rain!

 

 

 

 

I had to take a picture of the castle...they turn it to "ice" with the lights...

and I thought it was so pretty! 

 

The only way to get out of the Magic Kingdom is through Main Street....and there was actually a "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" going on which we were not a part of...but explains all of the people in the background. 

Part of the party is that they make it "snow" on Main Street.... so I wanted to take a picture of the kids in the "snow" in Florida!

 

I know what you are thinking....Cruz isn't in any of these pictures from your first day...

you are correct. :( He just stayed in the stroller, protected from the light rain...and slept. He was tired...and I didn't want to mess with him. I promise, I do have pictures of Cruz....just not from this night in the park.

 

 

I know what else you are thinking....those kids must be exhausted!!!!!!! 

I bet they are heading back to the hotel room for a good night's sleep....

 

not.so.much.

 

So...we actually planned the trip a little bit last minute (in Disney time)...and didn't actually make reservations til August...turns out that in order to get things like character meals you need to have them booked a little earlier than that...especially with 8 people.

 

SO...after leaving the Magic Kingdom, we headed back to our hotel for our

9:00PM

reservation at Chef Mickey's.

 

smart. I know. 

 

In my defense...anytime I have every flown with any of my kids, they have pretty much slept the whole time....I thought with traveling all day, they would sleep all day...and that paired with being in a different time zone....well....I hoped it would end up being a better idea than it was...Oh well!  It still was fun...

 

Next up: our meal at Chef Mickey's (way past bedtime)

whobody slid off santa's lap?

Every year, the town of Garnavillo is lucky enough to have Santa visit! Here are a few pictures of the little boys before we went to the Christmas Open House.....

 

first Cruz.  Yes...he is SO smoochable.

 

 

 

...and here is his Christmas shirt...it reads..."who needs mistletoe when you're this cute"

Perfect for my little man.

 

 

Here is Nash too...and his new smile that I get whenever I try to take his picture....well....honestly, I either get this face:

 or...his new personal favorite...this one:

 

 

Those faces made for very nice Disney World pictures.... (not so much.)

 

 

Once we got to the community center, the kids did a craft. I think the intention was for them to make it for their parents or grandparents....

 

But, instead, Nash made his for Santa!

 

 

 

 

THEN it was finally time to see Santa... Nash couldnt' wait so he went first!

 

 

 Then Lola

 

 

Then Keaton

 

 

 

and finally, the not so happy Cruz....he was a little bit unsure of the big man with a white beard...

 

 

I wanted a picture with all of the kids with Santa...and got this one...pretty cute, right? 

A second after this picture...my good friend Nikole snapped this one:

If you look closely, you will see Cruz's head below mine....That was me catching Cruz as he slipped off of Santa's lap. (yikes).  He just wiggled right off of Santa's lap! He officially does not care for Santa....

 

I will say that Santa felt very bad...and did call to check on Cruz the next day. :) Fun times in the Reimer family...and a Santa memory that will be hard to forget!

whobody made their Christmas lists?

This year when we sat down to make our Christmas lists...I first made the older 2 kids make a list of things that they are thankful for....

 

First, Lola's

 

 interpretation:

my family

my brothers

Christmas

animals

food

water

my friends

 

 

and Keaton's:

 

 

and now...for our letters to Santa....

 

first Nash's letter:

 

 (of course he had to add more to the back...cause asking for 3 things for

Christmas wasn't enough for anybody!)  By the way...Nash pretty much just copied whatever Keaton did for his list because he wants to be just like Keaton!

 

 

Now Lola's letter....

 

 Lola's Christmas list...in case you can't interpret:  on the front.... little toy puppy, camera, pony little legos girls....and on the back....dreamlites, remote control car, toy horse you can ride, toy cat, pretend Christmas tree, Zuzu pets, Trios, art stuff & glue.

 

 

and finally, Keaton's:

 Yes...the thing he wants most is a chicken hut....a little barn for the chickens that we are getting this spring....I don't think he is going to get that one!

 

 

The kids always enjoy making their letters....and hopefully they are happy with their loot on Christmas morning.  This time of year I have such a hard time.....it is so difficult to ride that fine line between making the kids happy and helping them enjoy the magic of Christmas....yet keeping them from being spoiled brats. :) Every year Santa brings fewer and fewer gifts...because every year after we open gifts Jason and I look at each other and say this is too much.  Hopefully this year we have found a good balance. (I'm guessing, however, that this will be another year when we feel like it is too much....)  They are only little once.... I guess we will keep enjoying it while we can! Merry Christmas.

 

Thank goodness for this snowday...hopefully I can get even more of these shelled out so I can get to my DISNEY pictures!!! Next up...visiting Santa!

lola's interview

In some ways....I cannot believe that Lola is six.  On the other hand...it feels like she has been six for a long time! She looks old for her age and she acts older than she is....so sometimes I really need to double check myself when I tell someone how old she is.  In our house, we pretty much treat Keaton & Lola like they are the same age!

Lola is our only girl (as Jason brings up all of the time as his excuse for why he brings her a snack at bedtime and snuggles her extra long.)  In fact, last night as I was laying in bed with her....she was telling me how daddy said he would read her a book in bed. (After we already read books on the couch...) I made the comment "you just have your daddy wrapped around your little finger" so then Lola said that she should write 'daddy' around her finger. I said that maybe she should just tattoo it.

She brings up the fact that she is the only girl quite often...because she really thinks that being the only girl kid in our family is getting the raw end of the deal. :) She says "oh brothers!" quite often.  She loves her brothers a lot...but likes to be dramatic about not having any sisters.

Dramatic is an excellent word to describe Lola.  She is extremely dramatic about everything...from what she eats...to what she wears...and especially when she gets hurt.  When Lola gets hurt (feelings or physically) she is extremely hard to calm down.  Her kindergarten teacher said at conferences that the first time Lola got hurt at recess, she was sure that she had broken a bone or something extremely serious.  When she was finally able to get close enough to Lola (without her flipping out) she realized that it was nothing more than a bump.... and this has happened MULTIPLE times since then.  Lola tends to get injured a lot. She is also dramatic when she gets excited about things...and seems to enjoy life an extra amount!

She gets injured a lot because she cannot help but climb on and jump on things she isn't supposed to....such as furniture...retaining walls...and so on. Keaton is in his 3rd year of school...and the nurse has never had to call me about an injury.  She has already called me 3 times for Lola for recess injuries.... She is very athletic and very daring!

Lola is an extremely good big sister.  She is caring and nurturing towards both Nash and Cruz...and is very good at playing with them and watching out for them.  She is also a very good little sister to Keaton.  They usually play together extremely well...and she really looks up to Keaton.  She does, however, sometimes embarrass him at lunch when she hugs him when she walks by him at lunch.  (We have had to talk to her about this....)

Lola is already a very good reader (self & keaton taught) and loves to read books....she will even very slowly read chapter books, sometimes.  However, her attention span is still too short to actually stick with a chapter book...she does love to read.  She loves writing even more.  Lola is always doing crafts...and writing notes and letters to us or her friends.  She is very creative and enjoys doing any sort of art project! 

Lola is also very athletic! She loves to be "sporty" and enjoys running and doing anything that requires physical activity.  In fact, yesterday she told me that her talents are running and growing...because she is the fastest one in her class AND the tallest one in her class....

and now for an interview with the birthday girl:

1. My favorite food is....salmon & white rice.

2. My favorite sport is....basketball.

3. My favorite color is....purple.

4. My favorite thing to do outside is....play with squirt guns.

5. My favorite song is...Rocky Mountain High.

6. When I grow up I want to be...a rockstar.

7. The coolest person on earth is...me.

8. If I could go anywhere in the world I would go...to Disney World.

9. My favorite treat is...popsicles.

10. A food I really don't like is... asparagus & brussels sprouts.

11. My best friends are...Rachel, Lily, Colton, Tate, Grandmas & Grandpas, Isabella, Blake, Kylee, Alicia, Kayla, Olivia, Mia, Amyra, Harley, Hayley, Max, Keaton, Nash, and Cruz .

12. Three words to describe me are...cool, running, swimming.

13. My favorite book is.....Lola the Lollipop Fairy.

14. Before I fall asleep I think about...school.

15. I love to learn about...Math.

16. My favorite thing to do with Keaton is....play baseball.

17. My favorite thing to do with Nash is...color.

18. My favorite thing to do with Cruz is...play baby toys.

19. Something that makes me happy is....when Nash smiles.

20. The best thing about being six years old is...blowing out my candles.


And finally...some pictures to reminisce....as always, I am emotional about my kids growing up faster than iIam ready for....but it is also so awesome to see the little people my kids are turning into. (sniff sniff)  Lola is really turning into a beautiful young lady right before our eyes...but whatever you do, don't tell her that she is beautiful OR pretty.... Lola only wants to look sporty.

age zero:

first birthday:

2nd birthday:

3rd birthday: 

4th birthday:

5th birthday:

 

and finally...6th birthday!

Happy birthday Lola! We love you!