Wii earned it just in time for Christmas!

Since about September 3rd our little family implemented a plan to earn a very great reward. The plan was for certain chores, extra work, and normal routine things everyone could earn a certain number of beads. We had a goal to move 2000 beads from the "supply jar" to the "earned jar". We all knew it would take some time and that it would take some hard work, but at the end the reward would be a Nintendo Wii system. Beads were earned, sweat and tears were prevalent, some beads were even returned to the supply, some days there were many beads earned and some days only a few were earned...but lo and behold on December 24th the last of the beads had been moved from the supply jar to the earned jar. Wii had earned a Wii!!!!

The question from the kids came whether it would be under the tree for Christmas.? We tried to kid around with the kids that we would have to wait until the day after Christmas and go out to buy our new Wii, but that there probably wouldn't be any. But they had been under the tree for awhile.
Here's the loot!!! Needless to say, we were all very excited to get it set up and play.

Here's my brother and John enjoying a round of golf on the Wii. Fun was had by many at our house that rainy Christmas day.

Even the next day when my nephew Skylar came to visit, it was hard not to get sucked in to the Wii vortex.

All I can say is that I'm glad we worked hard for it and that we all feel like we took part to make it a family goal. Now,...who's up for a game of Boom Blox? Game on!!

Christmas at Disneyland

If you love Christmas time and you love Disneyland you should really go to Disneyland during the Christmas season. It truly is magical. The lights, the music, all the decorations...it's just, well, the "merriest" place on earth.

Alright, so some great friends were going to be our guides at Disneyland because John and I haven't been in quite some time and this was the first time for our kids.

So, here's the typical entrance photo with all of us!

We all thought it would be a great idea to start with some easy rides to ease into the fun. That plan did not turn out so well with Hayden...he doesn't like rides that are in the dark and have loud noises coming at him, like Pinocchio, Toad's Adventure, Toontown.Can you see how Hayden has buried his face right into John and he's got his eyes closed tight and plugging his ears with his finger...crazy kid.

We thought that Hayden was really going to have a hard time spending 3 days at Disneyland if he didn't even look at any of the rides, until...we noticed that if the ride was outside, he was just fine.

He didn't seem to mind spinning us dizzy on the teacups!

So how did he do on the faster more exciting rides, you ask? Pretty darn good. We couldn't get him to open his eyes during the Space Mountain ride, but he loved that it went fast and he loved the music in it.

Here we're getting ready to go on Space Mountain. Hayden hasn't closed his eyes just yet.

The first day went great except for John's tired feet. We all loved the fireworks and the snow at the end of the show.

The second started off fabulously since we seemed to be the first ones on every ride for almost 2 hours. We hardly waited longer than a minute at most of the rides. Then once California Adventure opened up we headed over to hit all the fun rides there. Can I just say that I love quite a few rides there...a lot! When Sidney was 2 she fell in love with Monsters, Inc and so did I. To see a ride come to life in person was incredible.

Here she is standing in front of "Boo's" door at the entrance to the ride.

We had to try "Tower of Terror". We told Hayden and Sidney that they had to go on every ride at least once and if they didn't like it then they didn't have to ride it again. So everybody went on this first ride.

Here's the proof...if you look in the upper left corner you might be able to see Hayden clinging to my side. He DID NOT like the Tower of Terror, so he did not ride it again. BUT, on the other hand, my sweet daughter (whom I thought would be terrified) absolutely LOVED this ride. There were six of us that got right back in line to do it again.

We made our way around the park, got wet on Grizzly Rapids, and finally found the big roller coaster...California Screamin'. So, who do you think liked this ride? All of us except for our friends' youngest, and he actually never rode it. (We think he would have liked it if he actually would have ridden it.) The top of the list of favorite rides is Screamin'!!

Hayden is even smilin' in this picture! (Yes, we did take a picture of the display pictures when you get off the ride. I know...we're cheap!).

On the last day we again had few lines on the rides, mostly because of the rain or threat of rain that kept people away. We enjoyed repeating all our favorites. The highlight of the morning was the Jedi Training Academy. My kids are HUGE Star Wars fans and we knew that they would be picking kids from the audience to go up and be participants in the show. We got SO lucky!! Our friends son was the first to be chosen, then Sidney got picked 3rd. We were happy with that and since Hayden is our lucky one ...he got chosen as well! They put a Jedi robe over their clothes and then gave them a lightsaber. They teach them certain choreographed movements all together. THEN,... Storm Troopers and Darth Vader and Darth Maul show up! Each of the kids get to duel with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Sidney got to go up against Darth Maul. She was supposed to stay on her circle mat and go through her choreographed movement, but she came to take out Darth Maul and she went after him with her lightsaber! (You, go girl!!!!)

Then it came Hayden's turn to battle Darth Vader. He was up on the stage so we could seem him a little better. He did so awesome with his choreographed moves. Then, the host guy told Hayden he needed his help with the storm troopers. He asked Hayden to use his Jedi mind force and push them back with his hands. He pushed them back and it was so awesome!! He was the ONLY kid in that show that got to do that, we were so thrilled. It truly was the best part of that day for him. He beamed for quite some time after that! We even loved the pictures that the park took and bought them because we really wanted the kids to remember that event.

We got our fill of our favorite rides, and there were probably a few shows that we could have tried to catch and I know that there was a parade that we missed that our friend wanted to see, but we made a pretty good dent in our usable time. And we were exhausted at the end of each day to prove it.

We will definetely come back. I don't think I would have thought to go to Disneyland during Christmas time, but it was so neat. And the weather was really mild (I think we really lucked out!). So...who's coming with us to Disneyland, say in, 2 years maybe?

Blog Slacker

Wow, I look at my own blog and think that I haven't done anything because I haven't recorded it, but really we're just caught up in the whole windstorm of Christmas. Since the last entry we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with John's family as well as got to play host part of the time while his sister and her family from TX was here. We visited the Arizona Science Center and the kids got some good playing time together with their cousins. I got to enjoy a couple of birthday dinners; once with family and then again with friends. Then we made preparations to head to the happiest place on earth...yep, our first family trip to Disneyland. The last time John went was just before we got married, but he didn't get to enjoy it because he was trying to keep track of 200 high school students. And the last time I went I think I was about 12 years old...Disneyland has changed a lot since then! Anyway, I will give more detail about Disneyland later. Also, in a month's time Hayden has lost both of his bottom teeth (we have been singing a revised version of "All I want for Christmas...").

We are truly enjoying this holiday season. The lights, the music, the tree, the yummy goodies we've been making and ones we've been given, even the cold that has finally arrived! Merry Christmas to you!