Disney Trip 2013- Sunday: Art of Animation!

We arrived at Disney World Sunday afternoon, checked into our hotel and had a blast spending the rest of the day walking around the resort and swimming at the pools.  Emery was on CLOUD NINE recognizing every character.  The fact that we were staying in a Little Mermaid themed room at the Art of Animation resort put her over the top!  

Also at the resort were Cars, Finding Nemo and Lion King sectors so it was really cool to walk around and see all the different characters and all the extravagant details Disney puts into everything!

Next up: MAGIC KINGDOM!

Days leading up to DISNEY!

We couldn't believe how quickly October came and that our Disney trip was finally here!  We didn't have to check in until Sunday so we decided to break up the trip and head there Saturday afternoon.  Before we left though we had a neighborhood wide yard sale and made a little over $200!  Woo hoo -- worked out perfectly for spending money on our trip!

Our friends Warren and Mandy from the neighborhood brought their things to sell over too, so we had a larger amount to draw bigger crowds!  My one goal was to venture out and find a princess dress for Emery to wear while at Disney.  Well the first house I stopped at I found an Ariel dress for $2-- SCORE!

Saturday afternoon, we packed up and started the drive to Disney.  We stopped in Jacksonville and spent the night in a hotel with some of Kyle's Marriott points.  The next morning we ventured out to a nearby beach to put our feet in the sand and enjoy the sound of the ocean!

Love this picture!

While strolling on the beach we saw a man with a fishing pole start fighting something and before we knew it he had a bull shark in his grasp.  I'm pretty sure no one went swimming for the rest of the day in that spot :)

Then it was time to meet up with the Dew Crew for a quick lunch at Cracker Barrel and head to our resort at Disney World!  LOTS of Disney posts coming soon -- get ready!

Emery turns TWO and A HALF - Pictures & Video!

This post is LONG overdue as Emery turned 2 1/2 on September 8th!  Even though I have been horrible at taking pictures with my real camera I still want to share some of my favorite phone pictures from that time!  She continues to come out of her shell daily and is cracking us up with her little personality and word choices.  She loves family, singing, eating, playing with anything princess or jewelry related, making us laugh, snuggling, reading, and taking care of friends/animals/babies.  She still has such a sweet and gentle heart and for that we are so grateful!

So here are some pictures of our "big" girl with a few little notes here and there:

- Singing to all her animals before nap time and then fell asleep hugging them all.... adorable!

- So peaceful sleeping in her toddler bed!
- Happy doing anything princess related and having a blast with new friends here in Charlotte:

- LOVES playgrounds and this day she looked up at the swing and said "Thank you Swing for swinging me"

- At one point we had 5 friends we were praying for daily during their pregnancies.  Emery thought one morning she could dress up like them all and stuffed her shirt with a balloon.  Hilarious.

- Loves to help me cook anything from her helpers stand from Grandpa.  Don't know what we would do without it!

- She completed her "Perch" class in swimming at the YMCA and it was so neat to see her gain her confidence and enjoy being independent in the pool.

-Sad to see pool season come to an end in our neighborhood.  We went there a couple days a week!

- After we finished our swim class, we signed up for gymnastics and she has loved it.  Look at how big she looks!

 

- All dressed up for church.  Love little girls in dresses!

- Magically changed to being AMAZING in the car and taking naps with no problem.  Once we got rid of the paci she has just gone right to sleep with no fighting it.  Hallelujah!

- Her hair is coming in so thick these days and even though she hates the process of doing her hair she loves the outcomes!

- Cracking me up at lunch.

- Reading with Daddy in her princess nightgown one night before bed.

- She loves to "help me sew" and by that I mean take out all my thread and line them all up for me :)

- She would wear clip on earrings all day everyday if we let her :)

- Her favorite toys are still small jewels/beads/marbles/rocks that are all the same size and different colors.  The fairy house that Sara gave Em for her birthday has all of those things in one so it's a favorite around here!

- Also loves letters and numbers--lining them up/matching them/sorting by color.

 

- Loves herself some chocolate and sweets-- takes after her Daddy on that one!

- Loving bath time these days.  Lays down with her ears in the water and floats like Ariel.  Still hates water in her eyes but is doing MUCH better than she used to with that!

- Oh still SO addicted to Tinkerbell too :)  She is so gentle with all her "babies".

SUCH A BIG GIRL!  We love you so much Emery Katherine!

 

And lastly, here is a compiled video from ones I took over the couple months leading up to September.  Don't want to forget her cute dance moves, addiction to planning parties, excitement over her first movie, singing voice and purposely changing words to make us laugh, and just the latest things she's learned!  Enjoy!

Laundry Room phase 2 and 3 -- DONE!

I'm proud to say Kyle and I have stuck to our pact and not started multiple room projects at the same time.  We wait for one room to be completely done and then we can move on... and although there are some rooms in our house that look pretty rough, it's nice to devote all our attention to the one we have chosen to work on.  

So I last left off the laundry room after I had painted the stripes!  My next goal (Phase 2) was to break out my sewing machine and sew a new cover for our ironing board and a skirt for the sink.

Here is a before of the ironing cover (it was so thin that we saw the board marks in our clothes when we ironed!) :

And here is the after with new fabric & padding... I followed this tutorial:

 Then next step was making the skirt for our sink.  This is where we keep the litter so I wanted a skirt to help hide it... and it's working perfectly!  I followed this tutorial and attached my skirt with velcro to the sink.  The skirt also has a slit down the center to allow Puck to go in and out.

 

Yeah Phase 2 was done!

NOW the last phase in my mind was trying to figure out shelving/cabinetry for the back wall.  Emery and I ran by the Habitat Restore and just happened to spot this beauty for only $60!

Kyle sanded it and I got busy priming & painting.  We decided to put it right smack dab in the center of the wall:

Next Kyle added shelving out the right side and a curtain rod out the left!

And lastly I wanted to make the shelves functional, filling them with my home made laundry soap, oxy clean powder, extra towels, and a cute little sign I made that says "Our home is filled with love and laundry":

And a view from a little farther away.  I also added the "wash" sign with hooks that we had laying around our house... I love that everything looks neat and organized but is totally functional too!

And the laundry room is officially DONE!  I think total spent was around $80!  Ready for a before and after?
BEFORE:

And AFTER: