Fall Break Disney Trip: Part 1

This is the first year we got a full week for Fall Break, so we decided to plan a trip to Disney (along with TONS of other people from our area).  It was just the 5 of us and we stayed in a 3 bedroom townhouse at Windsor Hills (off property).  It had a small private pool and a large pool and waterslide in the neighborhood.  We planned to spend 5 days at the parks, with 1 rest day during the week.  It was such an exhausting week, but we had a great time!

 

Saturday - Arrival Day

We left Friday evening around 6:00 pm and drove straight through the night.  The girls did so great on the drive and slept the best they ever have in the car.  We arrived around 10:30 am and were able to get right into our place.  We unpacked, let the girls swim, took naps and then headed to the Grand Floridian for dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisters.  The girls really enjoyed the dinner and it was fun to check out the hotel.  We took a ride on the monorail and then headed back for early bedtimes.

 

 

Sunday - Park Day 1 at Epcot

Sunday we started at Epcot bright and early.  It was a full day and we packed a lot in.  We had high hopes for taking an afternoon break and coming back for fireworks, but by the time we left the park around 5 pm we were wiped out.  We decided to grab pizza, let the girls swim and head to bed early again.

 

 

 

Monday - Park Day 2 at Magic Kingdom

We had another early start at Magic Kingdom.  It was another packed day full of fun.  We decided to pace ourselves a little more this day and took a break mid afternoon to head back to our place to take naps and rest.  We had dinner at our place and then headed back to Magic Kingdom for more rides, fireworks and ice cream.  It was a super late night by the time we got the girls to bed (around 11:30 pm).

 

 

 



Celebrating Kensley...

Kensley chose to go ice skating for her birthday, so this past weekend she invited several friends to join us.  The kids had such a great time and we could barely get them off the ice to pause for snacks and brownies.  I kept saying that I was so surprised they weren't all bruised up as there was a lot of falling going on.

 

Saturday night, we celebrated with family and a few friends back at our house for pizza and cupcakes.  We kept things low key this year and she really just enjoyed celebrating with her close friends.  She chose an emoji theme so we had lots of emoji party items (including emoji poop shaped brownies...the things we do for our kids!).

 

It was a fun weekend and we can't believe our baby girl is 8 years old!



 

Happy 8th birthday, Kensley Elise!

Kensley Elise: 8 Yeards Old...

This past Saturday Kensley turned 8 years old!  I know I say this every year, but time seems to be flying by and the girls are growing up so fast.

 

Kensley is really coming into her own the older she gets.  She continues to be shy and more reserved in public. She prefers a few close friends, rather than a big group.  She is definitely our planner (and comes by it honestly).  She gets excited about activities, but tends to be more of a homebody.  She gets embarrassed easily when called out for individual attention and doesn't enjoy being in front of people (presenting, performing, etc.).

 

She loves to read and is leading the class in her Team Read competition for the year.  She has already read well over 1,700 pages since August (and she's had to write a book report on each book read!).  She also continues to enjoy and excel at math.  This year school seems to be a bit more challenging overall, but she is doing well and has been a great fit for her.  She is a perfectionist and usually a lot harder on herself when she doesn't "get it" the first time.  She is super organized and tidy.

 

She enjoyed swimming on the swim team this past summer and is currently taking gymnastics.  Both sports, I anticipate her continuing for a while.  She did softball last Spring, and while I think she will do it again this year, I am not sure it's her favorite sport.  She is still enjoying Awana and her and Avery are participating at a local church on Wednesday evenings.

 

Kens continues to be our thrill seeker.  She loves roller coasters and thrill rides.  She is always up for a challenge and usually the first to volunteer for rock climbing or zip lining.  She is also our bug lover and can usually be found catching bugs in the summer.  She still loves stuffed animals and beanie boos are her favorite right now as she loves collecting new ones.
 

She has lost 10 baby teeth total (a few of them at school) and has a number of permanent teeth already grown in.

 

Her stats at 8 years old:

Height: 4 ft 1/2 in (22%)

Weight:51 lbs (26%)

Happy 8th Birthday, Kensley Elise!  We love you!



October {2017}...

Our October started out fun with seeing Garth Brooks live in concert downtown Indy.

 

Our seasonal fall activities were cut a little short this year due to Fall Break falling right in the middle of October, but we managed to do some fun things.

 

A girl and her pumpkin...she loved checking on her pumpkin each day.

Showing off her fake teeth from her teacher.

The girls and their pumpkins.

  Monday after Fall Break, Maddy had pumpkin carving at school and she chose to take her daddy with her.  It was touch and go on whether she would make it as Monday was a really rough day for her.  Her teacher pulled me aside at pick up and also wrote a note home saying how rough her day was.  But they seemed to have a good time and they made it through (after an apology to both of her teachers for how she acted that day at school).

 Maddy and I hit up the library Halloween party while the girls were at Awana on Wednesday night.  We were there long enough to get some candy and make a quick craft.  No pictures from this night.

Maddy's class sang in chapel at school on the same day they got to wear their Halloween costume's and trick or treat at school.

 

 

We all hit up Trunk or Treat at Maddy's preschool on Saturday afternoon and the girls had a great time.  They got lots of candy and even participated in a donut eating contest (no hands).

Sunday we took our annual trek to Conner Prairie's Headless horseman with friends (and cousins).  It was FREEZING, but we had a great time. 

Tuesday we went trick or treating around our neighborhood with our neighbors.  The weather was a little chilly, but really pretty nice compared to some past years.

2017/2018 School Pictures...

2017/2018 School Pictures

 

Kensley - 2nd Grade (Mrs. Cooper)

Avery - 1st Grade (Mrs. Cooper)

Madelyn - PreK (Miss Ashley and Miss Amy)



September Random...

In catching up on the blog, here the last bit of randomness from the rest of September.

I got together with a few girlfriends for dinner.

The girls all had picture day at school.

 

I traveled for work late September/early October.  While I was gone, Kensley's class had an open house to meet the class chicks.  The girls loved it!

 

Kens wrote a story about her day with one of the chicks (Oreo).  Jeremy took pictures of it and sent it to me.  I was so impressed with her creativity.