In an attempt to catch up on the last few months, I am frantically uploading (although frantic is not the pace of the upload itself) my pics to shutterfly and figure I’ll blog backwards for a bit.

So… Disney weekend.

We had tickets left over from last year that we had to use or lose. Since I had to be out there on Saturday for the Expo, we figured we’d take the kids to Disney and spring for the hotel room. We stayed at the All-Star resort, which the kids and I liked, but Tim wasn’t so keen on. Bella was very impressed with our stairwell which looked like a Coke cup, complete with straw. That’s her at the bottom.

Both kids were very excited at the bus trip over from the hotel. Just being able to be in a vehicle without a carseat was a shock to Nicholas.

Bella’s favorite thing (and Tim’s too) was the Hall of Presidents. She cheered and clapped the whole way through and pretty much dropped her jaw when they introduced Abraham Lincoln and he gave a speech. She was completed involved. After the HOP, we went over to the Swiss Family Robinson climb.

A few walks around and it started to get dark. The kids enjoyed It’s a Small World, then Bella requested to go try and pull the sword out. I think she thinks she got stronger in the last year. Once there, she tried and tried, then looked up. All of a sudden she realized that the castle was OPEN! She could walk through it. I caught the moment on film.

Here she is, our happy Princess, lounging in front of the castle. She really wanted to eat with the princesses, but we’re going to save that for a special occasion.

Finally, we settled to eat noodle bowls and watch the parade. Nicholas found it hysterically funny when we put stickers on both of his hands.

We had such a blast at Disney this past weekend. Here’s a few photos from the weekend. I still have yet to pull photos from the camera
Here we are at the Expo picking up my packet and number.

Here’s Bella, Mama Bunny and I with Cinderella. We both squealed when we saw we could get our picture taken.

And finally here’s me with my new hat post race.

Well, we are having some more successes in the potty training department. Thank goodness! This last weekend, he used the potty the whole weekend while at Disney. This is without being naked (a big step!) He also stopped getting ready for bed Saturday night and ran into the potty at the hotel, got himself on the potty, and went without anyone asking or helping him. He was half naked at the time, but he was so independent about it. Yesterday he stayed with Granny all day and I got frequent calls with him telling me “I peed in the potty! Yay!” We’re going to go another week or so like this, then re-attempt underpants. That’s truly the Mother’s Day gift I want - no more diapers!

I realize I’m WAY behind on photos and info. About a month. I am planning on catching up, but life is just getting away from us. This weekend is Cinco de Mayo party and Mother’s Day. The following is Grayson’s birthday party… then we get to school ending, vacation, etc. So much to do…

It’s my new form of bribery. Every time Nicholas pees or poos in the potty, I give him half an Andes. He has never poo’d in the potty before today. I will pay him in Andes until I can get him in undies if that’s what it takes. Any and all measures. Now, the key will be getting him to tell me when he has to go instead of me just plopping him down and telling him he’ll get a treat if he does go. Baby steps.

In my efforts to save some money this year due to last year’s impossible task of selling/renting the house, we’ve been cutting back in different ways. Making sure lights are off. Setting the thermostat to high’s and low’s above and below the average. Cutting back on juice boxes and water bottles (as only half seems to get drunk unless at lunch.) One of the things I personally did was cancel my BooksFree account. BooksFree is Netflix but for paperbacks. You pay a monthly fee and they send you anywhere from 2 to 12 books at a time depending on your fee. You send them back in the prepaid envelope… they send you more. It worked out famously for me during Nicholas’ first year as there was always something coming to read during those ‘I don’t want to be awake’ hours. Then I noticed that our library would ship you books for free as well. Well that was a Eureka moment for me! I switched over to them. Then 2 months later, they cancel the service unless you are homebound. Our new house is only a 1/4 mile away from the library and yet I just didn’t go in. It could have something to do with the horrifying reality of dragging two preschoolers into a quiet building. I knew I wasn’t going to be leisurely browsing for a book by any means. In January, when Mary and I started running together, we decided to meet at the library. Good parking and something to do while you waited for the other to show. Just this week she came out hauling a large pile of books. She said “You know. I’m here more than at my own library, so I really should just get my books here.” I have also become an avid library user, meeting a few minutes early to run in and select something for my book loving mind. I put my books on hold online and add others to my online account list for later. This way, all I do is go to the front desk and my books are waiting for me. As long as I’m not late, they’re free. So far I’ve paid $5 in late fees. I don’t think that’s bad. It’s way less than what I was paying for BooksFree AND I’m supporting the local library that’s providing these to me. There’s also the free storytime for kids, arts and crafts on Saturday for kids and free Internet connection for all. I really dig the library.