The Mommy turns 32…getting older and happier every year!

     So my birthday was celebrated at my mom’s house since we were there…she had planned a really nice party for me that evening with my Aunt Julie and Uncle John and their daughter Jenna as well as our friend Allison and all us crazy Georgia folk!  It was really fun…and she bulk cooked me her spaghetti sauce to take home…We were all happy about that! 

But first, that day we all did what I wanted to do…thriftin!  There were quite a few consignment shops in the area so even Nana went (BIG DEAL: NANA DETESTS SHOPPING!)  There were some great deals…wish we knew what we were having!

Then the kids played with the scooters…again…those things are so fun for them!

Come’on,   I want to ride!

Man, being the littlest STINKS… 

…sometimes!

Now’s my chance to show them what I’ve got…  um, could we lower these handlebars a little bit?

Nana’s cute house!

IT’s PARTY TIME

Not much to wish for, all my wildest dreams have already come true…

UH OH, it’s a Nana sighting, she got me the sweetest card!

Dance party time…

Break it down Ryan…

Nana and her sister, Aunt Julie…

Amy and our Uncle John…

Uncle John and Aunt Julie…

My dreams and prayers come true…

…HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Disney World: Part II

     The second part of our wonderful day was spent waiting for Mickey and Minnie autographs and pictures!  We had fun waiting but everyone was winding down and ready to eat…

Finally…we meet…now what?

Say cheese, Minnie really liked these boys!

Time for dancing…

Mickey thinks Andrew’s funny…

Mikey’s not so sure!  These are very strange mice!

 

Joey, Allison, and Elizabeth wanted to reride Space Mountain so we decided on the much nicer ride around tomorrow land with the little ones…

My angel, always patient with all of us Markins girls!  I don’t know how he does it!

Do you notice Andrew’s tired eyes?  We all were starting to get really tired and really hungry!

Ryan was always the trooper…he’d never admit he was tired…

Now off to the character dinner.  HEY, little Madeline and the boys stole my stroller! 

My favorite part of Disney…lighting up the castle…so pretty!

Now fun with the Pooh gang!  I tell you, I was expecting the turkey leg, premade, feed 10,000 people in one shift type of dinner that is typical of Disney lunch and snack parlors, but this spread was fabulous!  Now I know why it was so expensive!  I really could’ve eaten more but I may have exploded!  The kids even found some food they liked but I think they were more interested in the characters for their autograph books!

Oh, Tigger, you’re my favorite!

Yes, Ryan was eating lemons and salad…

 

Mikey was easily entertained here!

Then there is of course the mad dash to the shops to pick out their 1 toy from Disney!  It worked much better this was since usually we buy a toy early, they find something else they want and are sad when they can’t buy that too!  So we told them this time to look around all day and really decide what they wanted and we’d go back to any of the stores.  Ryan wanted a light up wand, Andrew a Goofy hat, and Madeline-Disney figurines.  Everyone was happy…and tired!

 

Mikey thought Andrew’s hat was the funniest thing!  He was still going strong…

Ryan had found his ride…

 

He didn’t last long…

Mikey was still truckin…I guess that is the difference between being pushed and carried all day with a mid-afternoon nap and walking.

Now, I promise Nana went with us, she is just a camera dodger…makes me crazy!

Goodbye Disney, see you next year!

THANK YOU AGAIN NANA!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun at Disney!

I once worked with a doctor from South Africa that I adored, she was in fact our Doctor for Ryan during a majority of our pregnancy.  This is how she described one of my favorite places:

“It’s like Disney World, you’re miserable every minute of it but have to do it for your kids.”

We feel Dr. Fisch is very mistaken…must be the culture difference!  The Ireland and Bobbitt family LOVE Disney (adults and children alike)!  And are so thankful for the awesome gift Nana gave us for Christmas!  No material thing could have compared to the fun we had all together.  And for that day, we had so much fun together that I almost forgot I was still, yes, all day sick!  MUST BE A GIRL! 

Our Disney crew consisted of:  Matt, myself, Ryan, Andrew, Nana, Amy(sister), Joey(sister’s husband), Madeline(niece), Mikey(nephew), and a friend of mine and Nana’s that I had not seen in over 10 years Allison and her girls Elizabeth and Madeline.  We were quite the crew and the Markins girls didn’t even fuss at each other the whole day (Nana, Amy, and me).  It was GREAT!  We are all control freaks and add Uncle Joey the engineer and we ALL have an idea what to do and when…but this time, we all just had a great time and as always enjoyed every minute of each other!

We had a tight schedule that morning as Mikey was FINALLY going to get his girl hair cut and become a real MAN, and as always in Disney, appts must be made months ahead of time and heeded or you’re out of luck.  Our first stop was the My First Haircut salon…

Look Aunt Jenny, I’m a big boy now!

And the older kids first request…CANDY!

Ryan isn’t scared of the characters anymore!

The traditional Magic Kingdom picture…

Time for Winnie the Pooh!  It’s Tigger and old Eeyore now Christopher Robin…

Pull hard Andrew…

Ryan is always good to stop for a pic!

Much cooler with less hair!

They can’t wait for it’s a small world… 

La la la la la la la la la la… Ireland

To infinity and beyond…

Andrew didn’t care if he knew who the character was or not! It was all part of the fun!

Time for a break…

We seriously could have bought a double stroller for as much as they charged to rent this bad boy! I think my cheapness is leaking out!

Look, they made topiaries of Matt and Jenny…

And the biggest part of Ryan’s day was the first time on Splash Mountain!  We could not believe he decided to do it and I think we were more scared than he was.  He went with Uncle Joey, Madeline, Allison and Elizabeth and was NOT going to back down.  I really thought there would be tears at the end!

See the sweet little face looking back in the back row?  He’s so brave!

Here’s the drop…the camera snapped a 1/2 a second too soon!

And after it all…he wanted to go again!

 

After all that waiting, we needed a water break…

Mikey loves his Uncle Matty! 

Now it was Andrew’s big adventure!  He was not so sure about the Dumbo ride and had refused to ride all day but after seeing Ryan’s bravery, he was inspired!

Look at our sweet boy flying with the birds…and elephants!!!  I even got to ride this ride.

Ok, so the stroller rental was TOTALLY worth it…

He’ll always be her little brother…

And for Disney part II, stay tuned!