5 Years Old!

I can't believe this girl is already 5 years old! She is such a sweetheart and it is just a complete joy to have her in our family. She is seeming so grown up these days. She is a great little helper and I know she was meant to be the oldest in our family. We love you Annie! Here are a few things about her right now:

-She loves to draw. She loves to learn how to draw new things, and goes through our computer paper like crazy.

-She is learning how to read and is doing very well.

-Her most common phrase: "Let's do an activity!" She loves doing things as a family, especially having family movie nights.

-She likes to take showers (she feels like a big girl), although still likes to take baths with Leah. They can play for hours in the bath together . . . . it's so nice.

-Likes to be tucked in "tight" in her bed at night. Daddy does it the best.

-Is starting to get a little opinion about things she wears (unlike Leah who has a big opinion). See the pink necklace she's wearing in the top picture? She brought me her jewelry box that day and asked if she could wear some jewelry.

-Likes going to preschool 4 days a week. Is gaining confidence by making new friends there.

-She loves to dance. She's in a ballet/tap combo class once a week.

-She loves to dress up in her ballet leotard and this certain pink skirt and dance to the Nutcracker music at home.

-Her favorite dinners: spaghetti and haystacks.

-Her favorite games right now: Guess Who and CandyLand.

-She still has a special blanket and still sucks on the little tied pieces of yarn.

-She loves to go to the mall . . . . I love this about her!

-She always wants an Auntie Anne's pretzel when we go to the mall.

-Her favorite color is still pink.

-She'll happily clear the kitchen table, but still has a hard time cleaning her room by herself. "I need help!"

-She loves to play computer games.

-Her favorite movies right now are the Barbie movies ("Barbie in the Nutcracker", "Barbie of Swan Lake" . . . . it's the ballet).

-She loves freshly baked chocolate chip cookies because they are soft. She doesn't really like them the next day because they are "too crunchy." She's a cookie snob.

-She loves nachos, especially right after church because that's when we always make them.

-Her favorite princess right now is Aurora.

-She likes to wake up while Daddy is still home. If she's just waking up as he's leaving, she'll peer out her blinds and watch him leave.

-She is such a great big sister to Leah. They play amazingly well together 95% of the time. And the other times, when Leah is doing something to Annie, she NEVER fights back. She's so patient and sweet to her. These two really are the best of friends, and I hope that continues forever.

Happy Birthday Annie!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

This night was the highlight of the week for me. After spending the day at Animal Kingdom on Tuesday, the Johnsons and us packed back into our cars, grabbed some Chipotle burritos to go, made a quick stop at the hotel, and then drove back over to Magic Kingdom (the girls both took a much needed hour nap in the car during this intermission). We put on their Halloween costumes, and went into the park at around 7 pm to find Magic Kingdom transformed into a Halloween wonderland.

Pirates and princesses.

Fun atmosphere!Making their "scary" faces while waiting for the Halloween parade. The parade was really impressive. Halloween floats, characters in costumes, incredible dancers dressed as the Haunted Mansion ghosts, candy handed out, etc. We loved it. Playing in Minnie's house in Toon Town.

And who did we find outside of her house? Minnie, of course!! All dressed up in a cute witch costume!

We also saw Snow White and all 7 of the dwarfs!
We hit up a few of the trick-or-treat stations they had throughout the park, where they were just dumping handfuls of candy into the bags. We also went to a few of the dance parties they had where you could dance with the characters. The kids loved this. How often do you get to dance with Mickey and Daisy? But the best part was how there were absolutely no lines for any of the rides. The kids were all going strong so we were practically just running from ride to ride from like 11 pm until midnight. So fun. I love nights like that. Pure Disney Magic.

Well, I think that wraps up my Disney posts. Now I can get on to other things (like Halloween and Annie's birthday!) We had such a fun trip. Thank you so much to the Johnsons for organizing everything, and to everyone else for coming and making it another great Walton Family Vacation!!!

Epcot

Friday was Epcot day. I didn't really know what to expect from this park, because before we left I had some people telling me they loved Epcot, and others saying it wasn't that great. But we enjoyed it and found plenty to do there! We waited in line to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy. The girls loved running up and hugging each character they know and love from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

There were also a lot of characters just scattered through the park. And the lines were really short for most of them, so of course the kids wanted to meet them!

The kids also really enjoyed decorating their masks and adding the little paper "souvenirs" they got at each country we "visited."

There are 11 different countries to visit, and I think we visited most of them. They were fun to check out. Here we are in Morocco:

Annie in Japan:

Grandma and the girls in Italy:

Trying on huge sombreros in Mexico:

It was a fun day!

Hollywood Studios

We went here on Thursday, Dan's birthday. It's a fun park. Tower of Terror is here, as well as the new Toy Story Mania (fun ride!)The girls loved seeing Mickey!Annie and her cousin Megan. They are 5 months apart.

In front of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (another ride I have never been on before that I would have liked to go on). Oh well, we'll just have to go back someday.

We love Minnie!! And our cute cousin Molly:)The kids loved playing in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" play area.

They have a lot of shows in this park. We saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage, Fantasmic (that night), and two stunt shows. The first one was the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! I was chosen from the audience to be one of the extras. It was fun to be involved. In the first picture I'm on the far right, in the yellow rag. We're supposed to be cheering for Indy.

This show is called the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. It was an impressive show.

But sometimes, you're just too exhausted to enjoy it.

And Leah wasn't the only one!