The Kirks First Trip to Disney

I'm not going to describe our Disney experience in chronological order, I'm going to go with the most memorable moments. In the #1 spot (which was hard, because there were so many moments embedded into my brain from this magical place), was the dance party we came across the night we went to the Not So Scary Halloween Parade. To set the scene, we walked up to this, Emerson not quite knowing what to do with this easy access to the caricatures. I love how she's so small that Alvin (the chipmunk) doesn't even know she's there, and I had no idea that she knew the chicken dance? My most favorite part is when you see her free spirit fly and she just starts to twirl as if she's the only one at the party. Wow, I love this little being...

In the #2 spot would be when Emerson met Cinderella. She was a bit wild right up to the very mooment she sat on her lap, so we weren't sure what was going to happen next. She turned into the sweet little child I know and love right away. And to top things off, I got the most perfect shot that I know will be coveted for the rest of her life (no exageration).

After meeting Cinderella, we ventured up the winding stairs to have dinner in Cinderella's castle. Practicing her Princess pose:

On our way up the stairs, Princess Snow White (aka Emerson) lost her slipper! We reminded her what happened when Cinderella lost her slipper and all had a great laugh.

The dinner was fantastic. I couldn't believe how well organized it was, how kid-friendly the food was and how they had the timing perfect to start the show when "melt-down o'clock" was about to hit. Did I mention that it started to pour down rain on our way to the castle? It was the perfect kind of spooky, rainy night to be in a castle. Emerson practices her bipideebopideeboop skills:

You can make a magic wand out of so many things (forget we had already bought THREE):

A yummy sundae adorning a witch hat appropriate for the parade that followed:

#3 So yes Wyatt got the go to Disney the day before with all of us and I was amazed at all the rides he could go on with us. He loved it, but it was hot, hot, hot that day. We rode the jungle ride and It's a Small World. Mimi and Grandpa were great and played with him a lot while we took Emerson to do other things.


#4 The Not So Scary Halloween Parade was AWESOME. I'm amazed like a child at the costumes, music, coordination. It truly was magical. I wanted to crawl into Emerson's brain to know what she was thinking. We will definitely, most definitely be returning for this in the years to come. The pictures aren't so great because it was dark but there was too much light.

Daddy was covered with sparkles from the princess dress for days! I did get some decent video:

#5 More video when Emerson got her very first glimpse at the princesses in the parade:

#6 Emerson rode her very first roller coaster and loved it! The girl seriously has NO fear of anything:

So those are only a few of the highlights of the awesome time we had. I will remember it forever. A few more noteworthy pictures of the fam:

Many thanks to Mimi and Grandpa for putting up with us!

And one last bipideebopideeboop from the famous fairy godmother to Emerson:

And as Mickey would say "See ya real soon!"

The longest pre-birthday ever

I came up with the idea we would go to Disney for Emerson's 3rd birthday instead of having a birthday party. You know, to keep things simple. Well, in some weird way everyone seemed to feel sorry for her and the parties started very early and I hope they have officially ended, although we were still opening presents yesterday!

Here's the birthday preview (by Emerson):

The first party was at Auntie Tiffy's house, with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark, Madison, and Baby J. Aunt Tiff chaperoned the sleepover and cake-making the day before.

Of course it's no party without chippy dippy:

My second party was with Nana and Pop. Nana brought those yummy cupcakes and gave me my most coveted birthday gift, my castle.

My third party was at Mimi and Grandpa's in Florida. They got me a yummy cake (Mommy ate most of it) and we stayed with them for a week. We had a blast. I can't believe Mimi has the same nickname as me!

Wyatt thinks cake makes life good!

I'm tired just from reminiscing about all this celebrating! Maybe we should "plan" not to have a party every year!

Catching up...

I can't believe how behind I have gotten, and it's hard to get motivated to catch up. There's so many things I wanted to blog about over the last month, but it looks like I will just have to pick a couple. We had one weekend in September that was full of birthday parties. This was the twins' birthday party from Emerson's class at Bounce U:

Here's a not so uncommon occurance, have I mentioned that Wyatt is quickly gaining on Emerson?

I so wish I got this on camera, but right after she took this bite, Wyatt walked up to her and she stuck the rest of the cupcake right in his mouth. Now sharing with baby brother is an uncommon occurance...this was Jax's birthday party. He lives in our old neighborhood in Eagle Ridge.

And to end the weekend, a trip to buy some pumpkins, the tractor was a big hit.