4th Birthday at Disneyland

Happy 4th Birthday Connor and Ryan and happy (... 5th?) birthday Granny! We spent a memorable day at Disneyland to celebrate the special day.

We started the day before the sun came up by leaving Arroyo Grande at 4am to drive down to Mickey's house. It was a hot day, lots of people and long lines.

In the below picture Connor is riding It's a Small World with me.
Connor and Ryan are 41 inches tall, so they can ride everything at Disneyland except Indiana Jones, which requires a height of 46 inches. The boys loved all the rides. The biggest complaint was Splash Mountain. They liked the ride, but Ryan (and Granny) got COMPLETELY SOAKED. Luckily I brought the boys a change of clothes.
In the above and below pictures, Chris, Ed and Ryan are riding Matterhorn.
On this trip to Disneyland, the boys absolutely loved the characters compared to last time when they were scared of them. Pluto was the first character we saw.

Connor, Ryan and I are riding Roger Rabbit. I am being goofy while the boys are just taking in all the sights.

Mickey Mouse! The boys had to give Mickey a big hug. But, boy, doesn't Mickey have a big head!

We actually got a picture of all of us together!

We weren't going to stand in line for pictures with Minnie Mouse, but Ryan started throwing a fit because he wanted to see Minnie. So, we waited in line....

We signed up for the Disneyland birthday party to celebrate the three birthday. Here we are waiting in line (yup, another line!) to go in to the party. Don't you like the pointy hats?

Connor and Ryan wouldn't wear their pointy hat. Maybe they were the smart ones?
The three birthday kids get to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Everyone got their own birthday cake to decorate for the birthday party. This is the "before" cake.Connor and Ryan concentrated so hard on decorating their cakes.

We managed to get a family picture.

Connor and Ryan pooped out by 4pm and were begging to go home. Granny and Grandpa took them back to the hotel while Chris, Ed and I stayed at the park battling the lines and crowds. The castle was pretty lit up at night. We watched the fireworks show by circling the walk way in front of the castle to see the light show and fireworks. We didn't want to wait hours to get a good seat, so walking in front of the castle worked well. We kept getting yelled at to keep moving, but we could only walk as fast as the people in front of us, which wasn't very fast.

Birthday Cupcakes

Next Friday we are celebrating Connor and Ryan's 4th Birthday at Disneyland, so this weekend we had birthday cupcakes with Grandma and Grandpa. Connor and Ryan decided they want a Nemo cupcake cake for their birthday.
Birthdays through the eyes of a child on their 4th birthday is just amazing. You can just see the magic and excitement in their eyes and smiles as they look at their cake and we sing Happy Birthday.


We sang Happy Birthday to Connor and Ryan separately so they each got their own song and their eyes just lit up the whole time. Below is Connor and we were singing to him.

And Connor blowing out his candles with Ryan watching.

I just love the smile that is on Ryan's face in the below picture as we sing to him too.

And Ryan blowing out his candles.

Spit and all!
Yummy! And, these cupcakes weren't as toxic as the green alligator from last year.

Cupcake faces!

In the below picture, it looks like the boys are looking in a mirror, but they are going to give each other a kiss.

A magical day, but the celebration is just beginning. On Thursday we are bringing cupcakes and goodie bags for their friends at school. Then Friday we will be at Mickey Mouses House (aka. Disneyland).

The Jungle

On Saturday we went the The Jungle to celebrate the Connor and Ryan's pre-birthday weekend. When we told the kids we were going to the Jungle, they thought we were going to the zoo.

It was our first visit to The Jungle, and I didn't think the boys would ever want to leave.

They had too much fun running around, climbing, sliding, jumping, laughing, and stuffing the ball pit balls in the play house oven. They have slides, jump houses, ball pits, play houses, climbing structures, tunnels, etc.

It really is a great place to let the kids release all their energy. Our only mistake was giving them their birthday cake AFTER they spend the day playing instead of before. The sugar gave them another burst of energy after they should have been worn out with a day of playing.

Lakewood Park with David and Bryan

Today we walked to Lakewood Park where we met David and Bryan for a playdate and picnic lunch.
The four boys had a great time playing in the sand, slides and swings.

In the picture below, Ed and Connor are having fun on the teeter totter.

We took advantage of today's nice weather because a big storm is suppose to be here tomorrow.

Carleigh

Kelly, Dan and Carleigh spent Saturday night with us on their way back home from their Mexican cruise. Connor and Ryan had fun playing with Carleigh. Here are a couple pictures.

Build-a-Bear

For Valentine's Day, Connor and Ryan got to choose a bear to make at Build-a-Bear. Below is the un-stuffed bears that the boys chose. Connor chose a blue bear and Ryan chose a brown bear.
The boys were excited to stuff their chosen bears.

Once the bears were stuffed, they got an air bath to get cleaned up.

And, here are the finished product. Connor and Ryan are so proud of their new bears.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Connor and Ryan made heart flowers at preschool for Mommy and Daddy.

Since the storm is threatening today, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day inside to avoid the rain. We went to Valley Fair Mall in the morning to play at the indoor playground. Next to the playground is Build-a-Bear, so we let the boys make a bear when the store opened at 10am, then we went to have lunch at Cheesecake Factory.
Now the boys are down down for their nap and Kelly, Dan and Carleigh will be here this evening to stay with us on their way back home from their Mexican cruise.

Happy Birthday Cody!

On February 7 we went to Rohnert Park to celebrate Cody's 4th birthday. Cody, Connor and Ryan had a blast together. They enjoyed running, playing and rough housing. Tyler was smart to keep clear of the "big boys".

Below is Tyler and Ed.

Below is Connor and Mutti reading a book.

Happy Birthday Anna!

On January 31, we went to Anna's 1st birthday party in San Luis Obispo.

Connor and Ryan gave Anna her present and had to keep telling her "you are suppose to open it!" Anna was just content holding the gift, but the boys wanted her to open it so bad. You can just see it in their face in the first two pictures that they were just waiting for Anna to open the present, but she just wasn't following their directions.
Anna enjoyed her birthday cake. Happy Birthday Anna!