Disney and Strep Throat

One Sunday we took the kids to the symphony - they were doing Green Eggs and Ham set to music. It was great and the kids loved it

Helen and Alex at the symphony

The last weekend in February we headed to Disney with my mom and my brother and his family. The day before we left, Ella came down with strep throat. Being the great mother that I am, I packed her up with her antibiotics and we set off for Disney! Luckily the antibiotics kicked in by the second day and she was just fine. They all loved Disney (but I don't think they had as much fun as mom and dad did :) Here's Ella and me at the character breakfast.

Matthew, Andrew, and Alex with Pluto

Uncle Brad makes Ella laugh

Alex and Minnie (with Helen's sticker covered head in the way)

Matthew, Caroline, and Andrew with Goofy, and Alex looking on

Ella and Alex give Donald a hug

Grandma, Ella, and Alex say Hi to Mickey

Mommy holding a very scared Helen - she freaked out anytime one of the characters came out and held onto me for dear life. I think she liked the concept of going to Disney and seeing Mickey, but being confronted with a six foot tall version of him was a different story

Ella and Grandma spot Mickey

Alex trying to figure what he wants to eat next from the all you can eat buffet

Ella plasters herself with more stickers. She had one over her mouth and moved it to take a drink, then put it right back over her mouth

Andrew, Alex, and Matthew

Ella's sticker fad is catching on and Alex and Helen now stick them all over their faces too

Sticker covered Helen

One of the most exciting parts of the trip were the video games in the hotel lobby. Good thing Grandma was as sucker and kept feeding quarters into the machines for them. Here's Ella.

Alex trying to drive the racing game - too bad his feet do not even reach the pedals

Ella takes a turn in the driver's seat

The statue of Mickey in the hotel lobby was as close to the real thing as they were willing to get

Everyone wants to give Mickey big hugs when we first got there

Helen and Grandma at dinner

Alex, Mommy, and Ella at dinner

Helen standing in line to see Tigger and Pooh

Ella gives Pooh a hug

Everyone with Tigger and Pooh (notice the Helen is as far away from them as possible and still in the picture)

Ella give Tigger a hug

Pooh tries to say Hi to Helen

Next we went to Pooh's playground to play. Here's Ella coming down the slide

Helen coming down the slide

Mommy stops to fix Helen's ponytails

Everyone likes to play on the bridge

Helen and Alex playing

Alex loved the merry go round

Ella and Grandma on the merry go round

While it was strictly prohibited by Disney, Alex loved riding the scooter with Grandma

Alex was fasinated with watching the show at Cinderella's castle (and he picked his Mickey hat out all by himself - we were very good Disney consumers while we were there)

Winter in Florida

Having snack outside one day

I love Ella in her ponytails - she's eating her snack quickly because she knows Helen has eyes on it

A neighbor gave us a bike that hooks up to the TV - they are not old enough for it yet but they love sitting on the bicycle. And of course Ella has to be well accessorized with her purse while she is riding

Alex can barely reach the peddles but he still loves it

Helping mommy blow out her birthday candles! (they are actually very unhappy here - we were going to have birthday cake after dinner one night but they refused to eat dinner so we told them no cake. Being the cruel parents that we are, we let them blow out the candles then did not let them have any cake! Don't worry, they got a big piece the next day when they ate their lunch)

Ella "smiles" for the camera before school one morning

Ella wants to sit in "mommy's chair" and work on her computer. And her face is well decorated with stickers which is where she loves to put her stickers

Ella with more stickers on her face

Happy kids eating dinner. I think they are eating pudding here which is why they are so happy.