HARLEY GIRL

Seriously, Harley should pay me for how cute she looks and use it in advertising.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A Harley mechanic.

JOEY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

We had Joey's 3rd birthday party at Jump-a-roos. 

Boy was that fun and easy!

Jump-a-roos is a room full of gigantic bounce houses. 

  Joey got to run around and play with all her friends, and check in once in a while to "base" (her private birthday room) for food and drink before running around like a lunatic again.

 The grown-ups, kinda sorta supervising, mostly BSing.

A Doyle close up. (Why? Because while most people have a pic of Doyle on their fridge, not everyone has a close up pic of Doyle.)

  Our youngest guest, Bradley, marking his territory on his Momma's shirt.

My dad always jokes about the free hats that come with all his motorized purchases. (Ducati shown here.)

Really, he has a hat collection worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and its the cars/motorcycles/boats that come free with purchase.

Everybody say CHEESE PIZZA!   

 Joey almost burned her eyelashes trying to blow the candles out.

(princess cake, of course.) 

FAT & PREGNANT

I walked into the kitchen, pressing my hand against my belly.


Mommy: "Boy, I'm getting big, huh?"
Joey: "Yeah Mommy, you're fat!"
Mommy: "No, Joey, I'm pregnant."
Joey: "You're fat AND pregnant."


She is definitely my child... nothing by brutal honesty here!

AH, UMM...

I swear this is not staged, she went to the potty by herself and I walked by and saw her like this. 

I guess good posture is just as important as regular bowl movements.

SPIDER GIRL

Showing off her muscles and her new jammies. 

NEW YEAR'S EVE

What glorious weather we had for New Year's Eve weekend in the keys.

Started things off with lunch at Snapper's. 

Lovely view, close and quintenscentially "Keys."

 The next morning, Grandpa, Joey & I woke up early and watched the sun rise on the roof.

 While the water was too murky for uncle Chris to really work the lobster (on his own lungs), he was able to catch a baby sea turtle for Joey to pet!

 Anne's beach, at lower tides, is such a fabulous place for little ones to explore because it stays shallow enough for them to walk for almost the distance of a football field out into the water.

 And there are shells. 

Joey LOVES to go shelling. 

Grandma Higgins would be SO PROUD!

  

ALWAYS BE MY BABY

She may be able to do everything "by myself!" 

She may talk like a grown-up.

She might be 3 going on 30.

But its moments like these that remind me that she'll always be my baby.

BEST OF FRIENDS

Joey: "Maddie is my best friend."
Mark: "Oh yeah, well that is nice cause' Doyle is my best friend."
           "Who is your best friend that is a boy?"
(Mark asked that question, expecting to be Gavin, from school, like it always has been before.)
Joey: "Keith."
Mark: "Keith? Where is Keith?"
Joey: "In Mommy's belly."


While we don't know if we're having a boy or girl, we are leaning towards Elizabeth as a girl name and Keith as a boy name. 


Joey has already decided that whatever is in my belly will be her best friend.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

 After Christmas morning at our house, (and a little test driving of her Lightning McQueen from Mom-Mom house from Christmas eve) we went over to Kaki's house for more Christmas morning.

 Cracker, festive as ever.

 THANK YOU Paka Rick and Kaki!

 The definite winner was the Cinderella castle.

 That's how you play with your viewfinder slides... right?

 And even more Christmas morning back at our house, setting up her new playhouse from Kaki & Paka Rick.

22 WEEKS!

I hit the 22 week mark last Wednesday. 
That is important, because that marks when the fetus is considered "viable."
After this point, assuming that it weighs a pound or more, a baby has a good chance of living, if the mom were to go into pre-term labor. Of course, living, but with serious problems.
And I have nice pics from the last sonogram (20 weeks), but there are buried under piles of stuff on the dining room table and the printer isn't plugged in because of all the construction going on at our house right now so I can't share them with you.
Joey sings "Baby Mine" to the baby in my tummy.
She'll tell anyone that asks that the baby is coming in July.
The floors, wall paper and paint in Joey's new room is done, but we aren't ready to totally move her out of the baby's room (her old room) yet, as we are still moving furniture around to prepare to do our bedroom floors.
The living room floor is done too, but now we seriously need some area rugs!
As chaotic as everything is right now, I'm glad to be getting it done early. (If course, I'm doing nothing. Big Shout Out to Mark, the energizer bunny, and to George, the handyman extraordinare! )

SEE YA REAL SOON!

Hanging out waiting for the electrical parade and fireworks.

Here comes the fireworks!

 Joey thought they were a little too loud. 

This is what a good day at Disney looks like:

A passed out kid, a stroller full of loot and we're almost to the front of the monorail line.

 Yes, she is in a Sleeping Beauty costume, with Cars sneakers, a Dumbo-Mickey-ears hat, and a Mini Mouse jacket.

Her sense of style is impecable.

GUESS WHAT? MORE PARADES!

Yep. That's right.

We have front rope seating... again. And no, we didn't have to camp out there for an hour. 

1) Go to Liberty Square, not Main Street, you don't have to line up as early. 

2) I noticed a place where the rope wasn't set up yet, but wasn't a crosswalk. They hadn't connected the rope yet so that people could access the booths selling things. But as the parade time approaches, they string the rope across that area too. And we showed up to one such spot about 5 minutes before they stretched the rope across us. HOTDOG!

Tough question: which is your favorite parade? The Wishes come true at 3PM or the Electrical parade at 8PM?

Vaughn has a bit of a crush on Tinkerbell. 

(Honestly, what male doesn't?)

 Here is Vaughn blowing kisses to Tinkerbell as she goes by.

CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE

A Costume change was in order, as our little princess had a dinner date with Cinderella and friends!

 Our little Rose (AKA Sleeping Beauty) had been talking about having dinner at Cinderella's castle for about 4 months.

 I'm sorry, there are professional pictures of her meet and greet with Cinderella, but they are buried right now as we are currently putting wood floors down in two rooms. My camera shots will have to do. (They take 2 pictures and deliver them to you during your dinner. (Multiple copies in multiple sizes.) It is part of the Cinderella's Royal Table package.

Joey was SO EXCITED that she was going to be able to use Cinderella's potty. 

(Dude, she is so Mark's daughter.) 

She had talked about it for weeks before hand.

 Princess Auroa, meet mini me.

 Like all character dining that I have experienced at Disney, it is very interactive and happens while you are eating your meal so there is not waiting in lines, no wasted time and VERY convenient. 

 They also spend more time with each child. Each princess talked to Joey and tried to engage her in conversation besides just the autograph and a picture. 

 Of course, a lot of children are overwhelmed or get shy, but we had prepared Joey for this moment and she really interacted with them.

 While all the princesses were "acting the part", Ariel was particularly bubbly.

I HIGHLY recommend Cinderella's Royal Table to anyone with a princess in their life (any age). 

The food was fantastic as well, which I expected.