October 2013

October was a packed month! It started with our church welcoming our new pastor, Dwayne Tester and his family, Kim and Austin, to our church, which happened to be our "Friends Day," too. What better way to begin preaching at your new church, right? We had a large crowd, a terrific service, and a delicious dinner afterwards.

We used our season passes to Tweetsie to get into "Ghost Train." When Eric and I were both working at Tweetsie, it was during Ghost Train that we first started dating. It was quite different running around with our 4 kids, helping buckle them on and off the rides, than it was 11 years ago when we were getting all painted up and in our costumes. The kids had a great time, but we stayed away from the Haunted House and Spooky Forest- we were afraid that might be a bit too much for them this year.

We also used our season passes to Dollywood to go to the "Harvest Celebration" there. Jackson and Ansley are now tall enough to where they can ride some of the bigger rides, which made it a little more difficult trying to keep the little girls satisfied. Usually we have my parents or sisters with us that could help entertain the little girls, but this trip it was just the 6 of us. Elsie and Vada were great though, and didn't complain about having to wait on big brother or sister at all. We did take them down to the kiddie area and let them play for a long time, just to be fair. :)

It was the first time that we took Jackson and Ansley on the big swings (I always forget about this ride!) and Jackson LOVED it. He laughed and laughed the entire ride, and had me laughing, too.

Abigail and Amelia came up to stay at Mamaw and Papaw's for a weekend while Tiffany and Mark were out of town, so we enjoyed spending lots of play time with the girls. We took them to see all of the scarecrows on Main Street, and their favorites were the Little Mermaid one, and the Duck Dynasty one.

Vada has learned this month how to climb onto her chair, then her high chair and then onto the top of the table. The girl is definitely a climber, and is really keeping me on my toes these days.

While Jackson and Ansley are at school, and when Vada Belle naps, I get to spend some one-on-one time with little Elsie. She is so much fun and has turned into the most hugging, loving 3 year old, and is all of a sudden a huge mommy's girl. I never imagined our sassy little toddler would be this loving- but she still has lots of that sass left in her! 

"Mommy- I don't want to wear this shirt. I look weird!"  ~Elsie

The 21st of this month was "watch day" at Ansley's dance class. She is still loving ballet and tap, and we are looking forward to watching her dance in The Nutcracker next month. Her class is adorable, and every one of those girls did a great job at practice!

Near the end of the month, a group from our church, went to Stickley Farms. There we did a hay ride, the kids bounced on the jump pillow, some from our group went ziplining, and then we all went through the corn maze. 

We also had our family's fall festival, dressed up for Halloween, took some fall pictures, celebrated friends and family members birthdays, and managed through the every day hustle and bustle of life. What a beautiful life it is!

Phipps Fall Festival 2013

The last couple of years my parents have had a gathering of family and friends at their house to make some apple butter, apple cider, and have a huge pot luck, which includes several dishes cooked over the outdoor cooking fire pit. It was a gorgeous and perfect fall day, and I think everyone that came had a great time. Everything was decorated beautifully and the food was delicious! 

Halloween 2013

As everyone probably knows by now, our family loves to do themes for Halloween (as you can see here and here). I honestly thought that last year would be our last year because the kids would want to be doing their own thing, but when we were on a hike while camping in September the kids started talking about what they wanted to be for Halloween. They immediately started trying to think of a theme, without me even influencing them! I'm not even sure who brought up doing a Peter Pan theme, but the kids took it and ran with it. So, here we are: Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy Darling, Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily and one of the mermaids from the movie:

The kids have watched Peter Pan only about a hundred plus times (which I think is why they choose that movie to dress up like), so they kept saying in the weeks prior to Halloween what each one of us had to say and do. Dad was to say, "Blast the Peter Pan" (in an English accent of course), Ansley would wave and say "Hello Peter," Jackson would call dad a "codfish" and Elsie would have to pull my hair, but over and over again she would say "I promise I won't pull it hard, mommy." On Halloween Elsie told me repeatedly that daddy really didn't have to stick Vada Belle's feet in the water- ha! Jackson especially loved having a sword fight with "Captian Hook" while using his dagger. 

We went to several churches trunk and treats where the kids got so much candy.  We hung out at our church for a little while where we ate and the kids got even more candy.

We then went to the mall, where we got to at 6:58 only to find out they stopped doing trick or treating there at 7:00, but it was ok and the kids didn't mind because we got to meet up with Caleb and Lyla and see them all dressed up. 

Happy Halloween! 

Fall Pictures 2013

A couple of Fridays ago, it was a gorgeous fall day right at the peak of leaf season, and we hadn't been able to find time to drive around and look at these amazing mountains. When the kids got off the bus I knew Eric would be working late on this day, so we hopped in the van and drove around to look at the beautiful leaves, and of course I had to take my camera and snap of few pictures of the kids, too! Looking back at the pictures I took last year at this same time, it makes it really obvious how much each one has grown this past year. Vada Belle wanted no one to put their arm around her, hold her, hold her hand, or touch her in general, which is why in some of these pictures it appears that they are just leaving her out- haha! I promise they tried, but she would let out a loud scream and they would say, "Nevermind, Vada" and as Elsie would say, "Just fowget about it." :) Also, in a couple of the pictures you may notice Elsie's hand in her pocket- that is because when we were walking down the driveway to get Jackson and Ansley off the bus, she found a wolly worm in the driveway, stuck it in her pocket, and kept having to check on it to make sure it was okay.  

Happy Fall!

                   

                      

                      

                      

                     

Disney Vacation 2013

I wanted to write down a few memories, along with some pictures (warning- picture overload!) of our Magical vacation to Disney that we took last month. (It's kind of long, so you may want to stop reading here- ha!) We didn't tell the kids we were going there until the day before. They knew we were going to have a special surprise that week, but no clue what it may be. We told them and gave them a little toy along with a dress that I made for each of the girls and a "Tomorrowland" t-shirt I found at a consignment sale, and obviously they were beyond excited!
                     

This year we stayed at the All Stars Music resort, which didn't have as many things that the kids were so excited about, but since we were at our hotel/room maybe 7-8 hours max in a 24 hour period, it didn't really matter anyways. It was still great with many awesome things to look at, and we were very pleased with our stay. When we got to Disney after leaving our house around 5:20 (which was already an hour past what we had planned on, but our alarm didn't go off) we put our stuff in our room and headed to Downtown Disney to hang out for the afternoon and night. There the kids were taking everything in and Jackson was taking down notes "of all the really cool stuff" that he was seeing on his little notepad he grabbed from our hotel room on our way out. He especially loved the Lego store, making a Darth Vadar potato head, and he had several pages by the time we got back to our room! The girls loved playing with the potato heads, looking at all the princess dresses and accessories and watching daddy dance with a group of dads at the amphitheater.

                       

By the time we got back to the room the kids were exhausted since they decided to barely sleep on the long drive down (which made it even longer...) and they went straight to sleep (which by this point it was after 11). On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom where the girls wanted to wear their princess dresses and looked just adorable. We met so many characters, rode almost all the rides, and got really wet in a nonstop rain shower that started around 1 and didn't stop until night. Thankfully we had ponchos and it didn't slow us down at all. 

                       

                        

                        

                        

When we went and met Jasmine and Aladdin, we were drenched by this point. But, Jasmine and Aladdin took that as an opportunity to "style"the kids hair and we especially liked the Mohawk Aladdin gave Jackson. Last time we went and this time, these two were some our favorites out of all the characters that we met. They talked and talked with the kids, were making monkey sounds for Abu, and had them giggling so much. Precious!

                        

When we went and met Rapunzel, she had the kids laughing, too. We had just gotten off of "Peter Pan's Flight," and Jackson was telling her how they were riding on flying ships. She says, "Flying ships! What kingdom are you from?" Jackson busted out with his chuckle that we just love, and when you hear that laugh you can't help from laughing, too. 

                         

When we went to do the Enchanted Tales with Belle, we were excited because it was something new for us since it wasn't there on our last trip to Disney. What an awesome and interactive show (if that is even what you call it?) it is! Jackson got to play the part of Chip (the little teacup) and when they were doing the ending and letting every kid get a hug and picture with Belle, everyone in the room just "aww-ed" when Elsie snuggled right up with Belle! Since Belle is one of Ansley's favorite princesses, she was so excited to meet her. 

                        

Favorites of the day: Jackson- Peter Pan's Flight (our kids are quite obsessed with the movie right now, so maybe that's why), and The Buzz Lightyear ride. Ansley- Splash Mountain! The girl was obsessed and asked us over and over if she could go ride it again. I don't think I could even count the number of times she asked us on Monday and Thursday (our 2nd day at MK) if we go could ride it. She also loved meeting the Princesses, of course. Elsie- she loved riding all the rides and was SO excited to meet the Princesses and other characters. It's funny to think when we went two years ago she screamed when we would try to get her picture made with someone, and this time she was the one running up to them to get the first hug. Vada Belle- Vada loved all the rides and would usually try to arch her back when we would have to get off because she didn't want to. When we went to "The Big Top" to meet some of the characters, she spotted Minnie Mouse on the other side of the room the second we walked in there. She didn't stop screaming out "Minmie" the whole time we were in there until we went and met her (which was of course the last of the 4 characters in there). We heard "Minmie" a lot as you can imagine over the course of our trip! 

On Tuesday we went to Epcot and thankfully only had to deal with a quick couple of rain showers in the morning.  We only went on one ride and were waiting in line to meet Mickey, Pluto and Minnie before we knew one of us had to go back to the room to get Vada Belle's lovie. Everyone that knows Vada knows that you don't go anywhere without that rabbit, and for the first time we didn't have it with us and she was NOT a happy camper. Eric and Vada took the bus to the hotel while Jackson, Ansley, Elsie and I went to go ride Nemo and watch "Turtle Talk with Crush." If you haven't been there, Crush is the sea turtle from Nemo and it is an interactive show with you asking him questions and he asks questions to "the humans" about things. Jackson and Ansley were sitting in the floor with the other kids, and Elsie hops up and runs to sit with me. Crush right then comes out from behind a rock wearing a bikini top and ask , "What is this," to which Elsie screams out not once, but twice, "Those are for the boobies!" Thankfully Crush didn't hear her, but the people sitting around us got a kick out of it. By this time Eric and Vada were back with lovie in hand, and we went on Nemo again, watched the dolphins and played in the under water kids play area. 

                          

                          

                          

Favorites of the day: Jackson- Just like last time, Jackson loved Soarin', but he also got to ride Test Track for the first time and absolutely loved it. He laughed and laughed the whole ride. Ansley- She says her favorite thing is when she got to ride Soarin' for the 1st time. Elsie- She loved the Nemo ride and the ride in Mexico with Donald Duck. Vada Belle loved the Nemo ride, too, and she really enjoyed watching the dolphins and other fish in the huge fish tanks. The kids all brought their Mickey ears hat that we got on our last trip with them again, so before we left Epcot we went and got Vada Belle her own Mickey Ears hat- a Little Mermaid one, and as you can see from the pictures, she could've cared less about wearing them! 

By the time we got back to the hotel, we went to go eat at the food court, and at this point the kids decided they would rather choose sleep over food! So funny!

                        

Hollywood Studios (which I love!), is where we spent Wednesday. We watched all of the wonderful shows there, met even more characters, and Jackson and Ansley were even tall enough to ride "Tower of Terror"! We did the parent swap on all of the rides the little girls weren't able to go on, so when we went to go ride that one, I made Eric go with them first. I just knew that it would scare them and I didn't want to be the one with them when it happened. Ha! When they came off I was surprised to see them laughing!!! Ansley immediately grabbed my hand to go again, but Jackson said he thought he would just hang out with dad and the girls. While we were waiting for them, Vada Belle fell asleep so I decided to use one of our snacks (the free dining plans are the way to go, by the way!) to get Elsie an ice cream, and she didn't mind at all waiting for dad and her siblings. 

                        

                        

                        

                       

Favorites of the day: Jackson- The "Toy Story Mania" ride, meeting Buzz and Woody, and he really loved the "Star Tours" ride. He was also so incredibly excited that we got to eat lunch at "The Pizza Planet!" Ansley- "Tower of Terror", "Star Tours" and watching Beauty and the Beast. Elsie- meeting Princess Sofia! She was so excited while we were waiting in line to meet her, and while we were getting her autograph and taking pictures Elsie just stared and smiled at her. When we walked away, Elsie just started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I didn't get to give her a good-bye hug." Pitiful! Vada Belle's favorite- probably Fantasmic, especially since she got to eat a Mickey ice cream bar during the show.

Our last day at the parks we went back to Magic Kingdom where we got to meet Ariel, Tiana, Hook, Chip and Dale. By the time we went to see Chip and Dale, I had just told Eric that I was done meeting characters. We walked right up on them, there wasn't a long line and Jackson really was excited to see them and wanted to get their picture. After he stood in line time after time with his sisters to meet the princesses I knew it was only fair to let him meet someone that he really wanted to. (Then just a few minutes later we walked right up on Hook with barely a line-ha!). Vada Belle was exhausted at this point, and when I handed her over to one of the chipmunks (I don't remember which one it was) she snuggled right up next to him and was just sucking those fingers. After snapping a few pictures I went to go pick her back up, and the chipmunk motioned for me to go on. He hugged her a little tighter and she almost went to sleep right there. Precious. 

                        

                        

While we were riding the People Mover, we saw some characters dancing along with a DJ at what they called Club 626 (which Jackson informed us that is Stich's number- obviously I've never watch the Lilo and Stitch movies!). The kids loved hanging out and dancing with Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, and Stitch, of course. They would come right down with all the kids and dance and dance with them. Elsie kept running over to the chipmunk and once when I asked her if she didn't want to come dance with Stitch and said, "No. I'm dancing with Alvin!" Wrong chipmunk, sister! 

                        

We got to watch the "Move It! Shake It!" Celebrate It!" parade, as well as the "Dreams Come True" parade, which both were just amazing. They had to stop the "Move It" parade because of a quick rain shower that popped up, but we love that parade and enjoyed what we got to see.

                       

                        

While we weren't meeting characters or watching parades, we were running from ride to ride.

We heard from the time we got there from Ansley, "When are we going to go ride the fox ride?" (Splash Mountain) Like I said earlier, she was obsessed! We went to go ride it, and even though all the other rides had barely a wait, it was an hour long. We got a fast pass, rode it at our designated time, and did the parent swap so Jackson and Ansley got to ride it twice back to back. Near the end of the night, we went to "Space Mounatin" so Eric and Jackson could ride it (Ansley was still too short) while the girls and I watched "Wishes." Eric said while he and Jackson were walking to get on the ride Jackson seemed a little nervous and he says, "Is it going to be dark?" Ummmm! Eric said when they got off Jackson said, "THAT WAS AWESOME!" He immediately asked me if I would ride it with him again. We did and by the time we got off it was just a few minutes before 10, when the park closed. Eric grabbed the big kids and said they were going to run to "Splash Mountain" one more time for Ansley before it closed, and I asked Elsie to pick one more ride for her last ride of the trip. We were right at the teacups when I asked her, so that was what she choose. Her and Vada Belle giggled and laughed, and when we got off it was about 2 minutes to 10 and since we were right at the Winnie the Pooh ride, which Vada Belle loved, we ran and hopped right on it. We then went and watched the nighttime electrical parade, while we waited on dad, Jackson and Ansley.

                        

Favorites of the day: Jackson- Space Mountain and dancing with Stitch; Ansley- Splash Mountain and Club 626 dance party; Elsie- meeting Ariel and The Little Mermaid ride; Vada Belle- meeting the chipmunks and the Winnie the Pooh ride

Once we finally left Magic Kingdom we went back and ate a super late dinner which the kids may have been falling asleep during the middle of.

                        

The next morning it was time to pack up and head home, but not before a little swim and using the free arcade points we were given (which equaled out to be one for each of the kids- they enjoyed their one game though.) :)

                        

                        

It was a wonderful week away full of late nights, laughs and so many memories. It was just as much fun as our first trip to Disney with the kids! Now... time to start saving for hopefully our next trip there in a couple of years!