Homestretch

Only 2 days remaining in our almost year long count down. 

I know I know, all I ever talk about is Disney, but someday I'll want to look back, and I'm sure the girls will too.  I want to remember the awesomeness of the anticipation! 

You guys, last night I hit the jackpot.  I got tears in my eyes I was so excited!  For quite some time I've been checking everyday for reservations to open up at any and every character dining experience.  I was able to reserve a few here and there, but the DREAM spot had an availability last night.  Check it out here

Sally is going to FLIP OUT!!  I decided to keep this a surprise and let her know the morning of.  Our good friends are letting us borrow some princess dresses, so that will add to the surprise that she gets to wear her very own gown to the breakfast.  Libby gets to have an early birthday present from Nana and Grandpa and we're packing her very own Snow White Dress!! I'm so excited!!

This is a little bit of how I'm feeling.  Have to see this?  Awesomeness

We had a busy weekend with a lot of visitors coming and going.  It was a lot of fun and a little crazy, but we managed.  Sally also finished up her swimming lessons, so fun to see how much she's progressed!!

Sally made placemats for our dinner guests Friday night

Neighborhood pj party! Complete with a house swap, wives at one husbands at another!

Sally had her Thanksgiving program today.  Daddy was able to come too! She's gotten so big, I remember this program last year when Libby was almost one and everything was so new to Sally!

I doubt I'll make it back on here before our trip, so I wanted to wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving!! Here's a look at a few of the things we've been thankful for this month.  Can you guess who represents each color? :)

Happy Happy Everything!!

**Here's to hoping I can get some sleep these next two nights, this Mama gets a little too excited sometimes

Today was Difficult, Tomorrow will be Better

This has been a common motto around these parts lately.  It's borrowed from one of our favorite books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse.

Sally is strutting her independence of: I can do what I want, when I want. 

I get the weekly tidbits from babycenter.com for each of the girls.  If you don't have that, I'd highly recommend it! Great resources. 

Anyway, it was refreshing to hear that the more they get into preschool the more you might start to see some independence, to put it lightly.  She's realizing she's her own person and she can control what she does and doesn't do.  She's also realizing there are limits on those decisions and she was blessed with two strict parents, who are just as stubborn ;)

Reid laid the guilt on pretty thick the other night when she wasn't allowed to go to gymnastics.  {privilege vs a right}He explained that it cost money to go to those classes and we are paying for last Tuesday even though she wasn't allowed to attend.  She looked up and said, "I can give you some money from my piggy bank?" Oh sweet child, hook, line and sinker!  Was a quick reminder that she is indeed only four and a half.

Either way it has been a long and challenging week.  Luckily today there were more highs than lows, I'll share a few.

We decided today was going to be dress up day! Complimented with curlers and make your own jewelry!

The Before

A whole lot of concentration going on here!  Fast forward 80 years and they will be doing this same thing with curlers in their hair at a retirement home

I was able to capture some on video, so glad I did!

The final product!

3 minutes later Libby was in just her diaper and Sally was freaking out because Libby wouldn't play with her. 

Deep breath

prayers

deep breath. 

Thankful Daddy doesn't have class tonight.

2 cute moments from our terrible horrible no good very bad days on Tuesday and Wednesday ;)

Crazy Haired Divas

Sister baths aka Mom gets a few minutes to clean up from dinner before the bedtime rush

**Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet Godson William!! Check out our instagram feed from a Throw Back Picture of he and I as well as some birthday songs from the girls!  We hope you have a fantastic day, William.  We cannot believe you're already 7!!! Love you so very much!

**Happy, Tomorrow-is-Friday-Day!!

Yes I doooooooooo

We had a fun day yesterday of meeting Kari and Haddie at the Library for storytime. It is fun to be able to devote certain things to Libby, as she's often sitting on the side cheering for Sally.  Thanks Ladies, for coming to play!

In the afternoon we ran to our two local Dollar Stores to pick up a few things for Disney, like ponchos, just in case, and colorful sharpies for character autographs!

We're enjoying a "don't have to go anywhere, stay in your jammies" kind of a Tuesday.  We're pulling out the suitcases and starting to set things aside.  It's nice to be able to pack for a different season so we don't have to wait to pack things until the last minute.

I tried to record a few of our favorite Libby Lines.  She didn't preform them as well as I'd like, but I'm sure I'll be able to make the connection and remember some day when I'm looking back.

"Yes, I dooooooo."  and "All done, thank you!" are a few of our favorites.

 

Yesterday at school Sally drew a picture of she and Libby dancing :)

 

 

Have a terrific Tuesday!

 

Hello, Hi, How are you?

We're still here, doing a little of this and a little of that.  Excited that Daddy completed another class toward his MBA, which means he only has one class a week until the middle of December and then a nice little break until the middle of January.  THEN it will be the LAST Spring semester, LAST Summer semester and LAST Fall semester.  Can you tell I'm a little excited?

We were happy to help Uncle Joey out on Wednesday and drive him to his car at the dealership.  He's helped us so many times.

We enjoyed the nice weather during the week.  The girls and I got the leaves raked since the forecast predicted rain this weekend.  We got all of the front bagged and then Daddy and the girls bagged the backyard Saturday morning before swimming lessons.

My friend Liz was just at Disneyland and she thought to send the girls a postcard from Mickey and Minnie.  Isn't she sweet to think of them?  Sally still hasn't gotten over it.  She says Mickey and Minnie just know every thing.  A few hours later she came to the conclusion that they must remember that Daddy went a long time ago and now he's going to be coming with his girls ;)

Friday night, almost all of the Phenow female cousins got together for dinner and drinks.  Each of our families are just getting too big that we don't get to see each other on the holidays, like we used to.  It was a lot of fun...maybe too much :)

George shared Goldy with the girls...he is a big hit around here!

 

Friday morning Libby and I quickly stopped at Menards to pick up some lawn bags.  Apparently we've been missing out since their big remodel.  There are awesome escalators in the store.  We decided to go "play" Saturday morning after swimming lessons.  Poosch joined us too!

 

 

Who knew Menards could be so fun?

We enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning, as we tackled 5pm Mass last night.  I'm much appreciative of that, as I have a terrible head cold.  Thankful it is here before the big trip!

We had donuts and watched Finding Nemo this am.  We're staying at the Art of Animation is Disney World and the Finding Nemo section :)

It's always a little awkward to just drop Sally off at Sunday school and walk out, people not knowing we went to Mass Saturday night.

Single digits!!!9 more days. Our chain is getting quite small! We moved it to the door handle so Sally is able to reach it for the removals!

Happy Cozy Snuggly Sunday!

**Happy Birthday to Logan and Lila!

Fun Day!

Yesterday I took the girls to MOA to cash in on my free pair of jeans that I won the other night at our girl's night.  Thank you Mandy!!! She hosted a CMA night, and we filled out our own ballots.  Whoever got the most correct got a coupon for a free pair of jeans at the new Silver store at the MOA!!  Can you guess who won? ;) Pretty awesome girl's night, right?!

It was also Toddler Tuesday and you can get a discount on ride points so I decided to warm the girls up for Disney.  Libby is a little daredevil, she wanted faster, higher and more.  She laughed and giggled the entire time.  Sally was very brave herself as she had to go on most of the rides and sit by herself, since I had to sit with Libby.  We're getting veeeeeeeeeeeery excited!!!  I also hit the dollar spot jackpot at Target today in stocking up for activities for the girls on the plane and waiting in line for rides.

Kari and I needed a night to catch up where we could take our "mom hats" off.  We needed to just be girlfriends and have fun and have silly girl talk without having to worry about our girls' behavior.  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed some delicious sushi.  As always, we caused a scene while trying to take pictures :)  It involved a little red wine spillage and two separate people offering to take the picture for us.

 

The sushi place closes at 9, so we needed to take it elsewhere to continue the chit chat.  There was a McDonald's down the street that was open.  Clearly we're hard to please :)


We felt like high schoolers :) Love this girl and how much fun we can have just chatting.

I wanted to share my new favorite song with you.  How awesome would it be to listen to this every morning as you wake up :)

**Side note, I've never actually watched the video, I always just listen, I apologize if the video is cra-cra


Happy Hump DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't posted since Wednesday.  I guess the time I usually spend blogging, I've been researching for Disney World!  15 more days!!

These arrived in the mail the other day

They are Magic Bands, they electronically link all of your reservations, including pre-selected Fast Passes!! We get to test these out for Free!!

This past weekend was Deer Hunting Weekend.  Daddy took Sally along to be dropped off with Nana.  Sally spent the weekend with Nana and Cannon.  Thank you thank you!

Libby and I got to hang out with Meghan and William!!

Anxiously awaiting their arrival

Bath time!

Daddy's sunrise from the deer stand

Shopping fun!  Thank you so much Meghan and William for coming to play, we had so much fun!! Thank you Liz and Joe for stopping by on Saturday to visit too!

Daddy didn't get a deer on Saturday, but the Gophers got another W!!!!

My little helper got me the coupons as we were waiting for Emily to come to church with us.  Thank you Emily for coming along so I could still be an EM!! Libby enjoyed hanging out with you and talks of it often!

Daddy got a deer on Sunday!!!

Very proud of him!

I'd say she had a fun weekend

Reunited...they missed each other and you could tell, it was so sweet

We met up with Kari and Haddie today at the mall, while Sally was at school.  Was a lot of fun to walk and talk!!

**It is with a heavy heart that I ask for your prayers for Reid's cousin Maria and her husband Justin. Their new daughter, Faith Rose was welcomed into Heaven Friday morning.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrow is a fun day for a person who loves numbers... 11-12-13 ;)