Dance Recital

Paige's first Dance Recital!  Age 4

Make up is ON!  We're ready to go!!

Grandma Balzer took Paige to her dance pictures a few weeks before because Steve and I were on a trip!  SO---Grandma got to put the dance make-up on first!

Which means---mom didn't know how to do it "the way Grandma did it"!

I did it just fine---but Paige thought Grandma should fix it before the recital!!!

Isn't she beautiful! 

Paige LOVE LOVE LOVED her make-up!!!

We had our first talk about how make-up doesn't make us pretty and that God made us all special and God made us just the way he wanted us!  (Yes, Make up does help as you get older!!! HA!  But, I didn't go into this with her!!)

Emily and Annie with Paige!

Speaking of beautiful... Paige has watched her cousins dance for years.

As we were getting her dance make-up on, Paige kept saying, "I look as Pretty as Annie" and "I look just like Emily!"  TOO CUTE!!

The class

On Stage

And, the flowers afterwards!!!! 

We made a big bouquet and put them in Paige's room for the next week!

They boys were proud of Paige and excited to watch her dance!!!

I wonder if Paige will do dance again next year.  There has been talk of cheerleading and gymnastics.  She also wants to try soccer, basketball, and now t-ball!!  WOW!! 

Time will tell....what Paige's "thing" will be!!!

But, for now----she is our beautiful ballerina!!!  You are awesome Paige!

More Disney

Day 2 we went to DOWNTOWN DISNEY and shopped and then swam more at the hotel!

We had to take a picture of Marceline's Confectionery because Steve's Grandma and Grandpa lived in Marceline, MO---home of WALT DISNEY himself!!  We actually attended Walt Disney's 100th year celebration in Marceline and few years ago!!!

There was a Lego Store with H U G E lego "things!" 

Jaden wanted to pose with each character or "thing"---it was quite funny!

**THEN, ON TO CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE**

The first ride of the day was MONSTER'S INC!!

We were in line first so they do a SCREAMING contest.  The kid who wins the screaming contest gets a FREE PASS for his/her family to ride this ride all day and go to the front of the line!  SWEET!

Steve and I knew that one of our  L O U D kids would for sure win this!!!  no troubles!

Well, we did not win!

Tyler, Mr. Analyzer said he screamed the loudest, but the kid who won held it longer....

probably true! 

At California Adventure Park we did several of SHOWS like Disney Junior and Disney Channel Rocks!

This was the day that Steve and I agreed that "Disney was NOT the happiest place on earth" 

 That's all I'll say about that!!

A few days later we decided 1 bad day out of 6 wasn't too bad!  It could have been worse!

We met more Characters!

We Rode some rides...

The swings, Mickey's Fun wheel, California Screamin, TOWER OF TERROR!, Buzz Lightyear, and more

Mickey's FUN WHEEL!
We renamed this....Mickey's Dumb Wheel!
First it was boring....we waited in line for A LONGGG time.  To then go super slow and........ THEN it got interesting!  We got to the top of the ride, starting swaying over the water.....and Jaden was NOT HAPPY!  This is the only ride that any of the kids didn't like or complained about!  Jaden's face says it all.

Tyler's favorite ride----the Roller Coaster---California Screamin.

Steve tried to sneak Jaden on it, and almost got him on, and then they checked his height

 at the very last minute!  BUSTED!!!!

Tyler rode with mom once, dad once, and once by himself!

Thank goodness for those FAST PASSES!

**BACK TO DISNEYLAND**

The highlight for Paige the last day was meeting the princesses and Tinkerbell

and the highlight for the boys was.... getting picked at the Jedi Training!

We waiting for about an hour to be picked for this.  We were there EARLY and on the front row--

but we were told it is completely random. 
You should have heard all the parents (including Steve and I) instructing their kids...

"chant this, stand here, do this, yell loud, etc...."

And then after Jedi Training the boys took the rest of their money and made Light Saber's!  Pretty cool.
And, then they wanted to play Jedi Training in our hotel room.  UMmm....no room for that!!


I have about 400 more pictures that I did not put on my blog.  I will save those for my Disney BOOK I am going to make!  It was FUN!  We survived!  We'll do it again!!!

some cute pics

        A few especially cute pictures from Disney before we detail out the remaining days!

The days we went to Disney we rode the hotel shuttle!  We stood in line by this sign each morning!  There were a few times that the shuttle was so full we had to stand in the middle, like on a Subway, and hold onto the railings or seats around us.  The kids thought this was sort of cool to stand on the bus....not sitting and no carseat!!

Isn't that cute!!  They look so sweet and innocent :)

More sweetness!  Gotta love those buttons!!

Of the pictures I have downloaded thus far---this is my favorite!

I did not do this on purpose...but I love how all the princesses are in the background, blurry!

This is a cute picture of Jaden, but I wish it was Paige like this, with the Princesses in the background.  Regardless, I love the picture!

Did I mention I got a new camera a week before we left.  I did not read one manual or book and used my camera one time before going to Disney.  I told Steve I didn't have time to read a book a figure out my camera so if he was buying it (HE is the one that really wanted the camera) he had to figure it all out and then give me the cliff -notes version.  So, he did!

AND---I LOVE LOVE LOVE my camera now!

I still have A LOT, A LOT, A LOT, to learn about it!!  But, it is cool!!!

 Pure Joy!!!  The rides!!!

I need to crop this picture---but haven't yet!

This particular picture, the kids posed themselves and then yelled for me to take their picture!!Notice Jaden's Tigger---that is the stuffed animal he bought the first day shopping---

he carried it with him most of the rest of the day!!!

and we ended our first day at DisneyLand with some ICE-CREAM!!!   

Day One at DisneyLand

We started our very first day at DisneyLand with SPACE MOUNTAIN! 

Steve told us more than once or twice or three times!--that this was his favorite ride as a kid!!!

We didn't know how Paige would do on rides, etc...really never thought about it!

We just put her on Space Mountain and away we went!

**I did ride next to her**

Well, she survived!  Steve and I thought she was crying the whole way through...

but turns out she was SCREAMING FOR JOY...the whole way!!

I held both my hands on either side of her little head, I was afraid her head was going to fly off.

  It goes so fast and jolts so much!  But, she was fine!

She LOVES all the jolting and bumps and everything....she just does not like the DARK!!!



We rode nearly every ride at DisneyLand on Sunday!

This was Toy Story!

Jaden is showing us the button they were given for being FIRST TIME VISITORS!

They actually got 2 different first time visitor buttons and as you will see in the pictures from now on---Tyler likes to wear BOTH!!!

We met Peter Pan, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy!

We went to a Princess Show and got to dance with the Princesses at the end!

The boys were less than thrilled and Paige was shy and didn't want to learn the dance!??

She finally warmed up at the end after I had to go down there with her!

We watched the Parade---very cool--- and went shopping!

  The kids were DYING to spend their money!  We let them each buy 1 thing and made them save the rest of their money for another day!

After the parade we went back to the hotel for naps and then returned to the park for the Fantasmic show and a few other rides!

We didn't get back to the hotel again until 10pm or later--CA time--the kids were asleep within 3 minutes of laying their heads on their pillows!!!

It was a FUN day! 

Memories:

Jaden LOVES the characters the most

Paige doesn't like her tennis shoes---

1.  they weren't cute with her outfit (She does have a point) and 2.  they are WAY too hot!!

Tyler was begging us to ride the rides to get wet and the Bob-sled roller-coaster. 

It was too cold for the wet ride (saving that for tomorrow) and we also had to save the Bob-Sled roller coaster for tomorrow too.

Jaden bought a stuffed animal--Tigger---

even though I tried everything to talk him OUT of ANOTHER stuffed animal.

Paige bought a (not so cute) Minnie Dress---that I would later get her to return for a cute Mickey shirt!

Tyler bought a necklace---he loves necklaces!!  and was saving his money to buy a stuffed animal on Thursday (the deal was if he still had money left on Thurs. he could buy an animal)

We got a lot accomplished on our first day!