Mickey, Mickey, Mickey MOUSE!!!!

Hayden couldn't stand the thought of Sawyer getting a little more attention!!!

Oh Disney World, how I love thee! And how I love that you are so close to Auntie Tiz! It is so much fun to visit you each year. This year we were especially lucky because our great friends and neighbors Heather, Justin and Peyton got to come with us, along with our most awesome long time friends Rikki, Joe and Grace. Hayden had a blast having friends to share the fun with! As you can see, we didn't have quite as hard of a time with Hayden and the characters this year! He was actually really excited to meet them instead of scared to death. He asked over and over when we were going to see Mickey Mickey Mickey Mouse(that is exactly how he says it each and every time!) and it wasn't until the very last day that we actually waited in line to see him. The lines were just crazy long. We got lucky when we were at Hollywood Studios and managed to see a line right when it was starting to form, so Hayden finally got to meet him... without us having to wait all day! Yay! I am so glad we did it. Truth is, if I had no doubt he wouldn't pitch a fit and run away the second we got up to meet him I probably would have waited all day on the very first day, but you never know with Hayden. He likes to surprise you! I would say he liked more of them than he didn't like, but he was still pretty apprehensive about meeting a few of them. Mainly ones he didn't know, but he even got a little scared when he got up to Buzz and Woody. Sawyer on the other hand, loved every single character he got to meet. He would hug them, kiss them, slobber all over them... you know, normal 7 month old stuff!:) It was the cutest thing ever. I'm sure next time when he's a little more aware of what is going on he might not be so apt to go right up to them, but for now he loved it!

And, Donald Duck too!:)

Donald was even lucky enough to get a Hayden hug!!!

It totally surprised us when Hayden decided to give Donald a hug. For the most part, he would just go up to a character and give them a high five and let me take his picture. But Donald... he LOVED Donald. He gave him this huge hug and then even gave him a huge kiss on the beak. Too bad I was in shock and didn't snap a picture of the kiss! It was super cute. I think he liked Donald more than the others because he actually got down to his level instead of remaining huge to Hayden. That's my best guess!

Sawyer absolutely loved his first ride on the carousel!

And Hayden enjoyed acting like a monkey on the Jungle Cruise!

Hayden and I enjoying It's A Small World
and Sawyer enjoying his lunch!:)

Another thing I was worried about when deciding to go back to Disney again this year. Sawyer. What in the world was he going to be able to do. I felt like we were just going to be dragging him around the park and he would be miserable, but that is in no what happened. He seemed to have as much fun as a 7 month old could possibly have. He could get on many more rides than I thought he would be able to, and riding as well as napping in the stroller didn't seem to bother him one little bit. Even feeding him proved to be not as big of a deal as I had anticipated(as seen in picture above!). We did have help from Rikki's Mom and Dad on the first day which was incredible. Grandparents are awesome(even when they belong to someone else!)! So glad everyone told me it would be fine and to go ahead and go! We had such a great time.

I told you he enjoyed his stroller rides!!

Animal Kingdom Safari!

Now this little safari was one to remember! It had every animal you could think of and provided everyone with TONS of fun! I especially loved our vehicle. It was super cute and the boys loved the bumpy ride! The tour guide was not only funny, but also did a great job talking about all the animals. The giraffes were my favorite. It was like they were right up in our faces. It was awesome to see them up to close. They didn't even seem real! I'm pretty sure it was Sawyer's favorite as well because he could not quit smiling the whole time we were around them.

See what I mean?!? Loved them!

Fun times at Animal Kingdom!

How cute are they walking hand in hand?!?

Sawyer was super happy sitting in front of the Tree of Life!

I know you are thinking what in the world is this?!?
But, I just love feet pics and this one was too
cute not to share! Such tiny little feet!!

The boys loving their ride!

Oh, and I almost forgot, Hayden got to meet Flick from A Bug's Life while we were at Animal Kingdom...

He gave him five...

Posed for a pic with him...

And even blew him a kiss goodbye! Such a sweet boy!

Now, on to Hollywood Studios where we saw Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and met Buzz and Woody...

I just had to have our picture in front of the hat!

And I couldn't resist this Mickey made out of bushes right
before the entrance to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!:)

You can imagine the way my face lit up when I saw this sign
at the beginning of the line to wait to meet Buzz and Woody!

Who would have thought waiting in line to meet a character could be a picture taking Momma's dream?!? There were tons of stations set up for the kids to play and the parents to take pictures throughout the entire line! Not only was it fun for everyone, it made the line seem non-existent! Perfect! And look how cute everything was...

My favorite was Hayden making his "stinky" face with Stinky Pete.
How cute was that?!? Buzz Lightyear's rocket ship came in
a close second for me, but honestly
all of it was super cute!

Hayden and Peyton had a blast with all of the props. We didn't get even the first complaint or question about when it would be our turn to meet Buzz and Woody. Genius Disney. Genius.

Next in line. Can you tell he was getting excited?!?

Could.Not.Wait.

The only thing is... once he got a little closer and realized just how big they
were he froze up and I had to go help him! Who would have thought
with all the excitement he would have frozen up? Certainly not
me. I was in shock. It did make since though.
As you can see, they were HUGE.

He did eventually let me put him down so he
could attempt to shoot Buzz's laser!

I would like to make a note to Disney here. Please make sure to have Buzz's laser and wings functioning next time. It was very confusing to my 2 year old as to why he didn't "vwork". Please and Thank You! It is so funny because to this day Hayden will tell me that "Big Buzz" is "brote". Poor guy. He just wanted him to work! To finish off the Buzz theme, we rode the Buzz ride at both Magic Kindom and Hollywood Studios and of course Hayden had a blast. The rides at both parks are pretty similar, but the one at Hollywood Studios is a little newer. Overall the same concept though. It was a video gamers dream ride. You ride around in a little space ship and shoot things with your laser gun to accumulate points. I'm pretty sure it was Matt's favorite thing at the park!:)

Hayden's favorite part was spinning our spaceship around!:)

Although Sawyer didn't make it to see the real Buzz, we
made sure to get his picture with this cool statue!

He looks real right?!?

And how could you leave out Mr. Potato Head?!?

We took the pictures with Buzz and Mr. Potato Head at Downtown Disney one night after dinner. I love both the shopping and the restaurants there. It is right up my alley! We have always made sure to visit Rainforest Cafe when we are at Disney, and this year was no different. I love both the atmosphere and the food. Especially the yummy volcano dessert! It is so much fun to eat with the animals of the rainforest and see all the fish. Oh, and the rain showers are always an adventure as well! We also made a visit to T-Rex Cafe this year, and boy am I glad we made that decision. It was a super cool place and the food was great. Oh, and the cotton candy martini I got there was to die for! Y'all know how much I love cotton candy... well imagine cotton candy and a martini. Yummy! There were dinosaurs throughout the restaurant which was a lot of fun for the boys, as well as meteor showers periodically which was both scary and fun at the same time. It is definitely somewhere we will be coming back to. So fun!

The boys tried these oh so cute hats on when we were shopping!

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe! Sawyer didn't make the
group shot... he had already fallen asleep.:(

Oooooing and Ahhhhing like the monkeys in the rainforest!

My attempt to get a picture of Hayden and Peyton at dinner...

T-Rex Cafe was so much fun!

I just love this one!

Not only did T-Rex Cafe have dinner, it also had Build-A-Dino. How cool is that? Of course we just had to do it. It is just like Build-A-Bear except you make dinosaurs which was so much fun for Hayden. He loved it. And, now we have a new member of the family... Spiny!

Helping fill Spiny with cotton...

A loved best friend-o-saur right away!

Fighting over them before we even got out of the store!:)

Aren't their "houses" just super cute?!?

It was nearly as big as him!:)

Can you tell we know how to have a good time?

And this is pretty much how every day ended.
Play hard. Sleep hard.
Love these boys!

And, because it takes forever to get pictures uploaded I have included the rest from Disney along with many of the ones above in this little slideshow. This is for you Auntie Tiz. There can't be many other people who could possibly want to view more pictures after this post, but I know you do... so it's for you! Oh, and for Hayden. I think he could watch this slideshow as often as he wants to watch Finding Nemo right now. It is so funny. He loves naming everyone(especially Mickey!) in the video! Enjoy Auntie Tiz!:) Make sure you aren't honeymooning next time so you can come with us!!!

We can't wait to see you again soon Mickey Mouse. We love you!:)

Birthdays Galore...

Daddy's birthday dinner!

We have had so many birthdays to celebrate over the past few months. Not one of which I ever got around to posting about(well besides Hayden's of course!). So, this is my birthday post for everyone! We have gotten together and celebrated my birthday, Gigi's birthday, Grandaddy's birthday and Daddy's birthday all without me blogging about it. Shame on me huh?!? The most recent was Daddy's birthday on the 25th. This was the first year ever that he has had to work on his birthday, so the boys and I went down to the pharmacy and surprised him with a little cake and a few gifts. He loved it! We also did a celebration with the whole family at a Japanese Steak House last weekend when Grandma and Grandpa were in town for Sawyer's dedication. It is very rare that we are all ever able to get together on his birthday as one big family because his parents live in Valdosta, so it was such a nice treat to have us all in one place. Everyone had such a great time. I just knew Sawyer and Hayden were going to be scared to death at the restaurant with the fire and everything, but surprisingly enough, they both did great. Sawyer didn't even realize what was going on, and although Hayden did get scared initially, he ended up doing great!

Enjoying the chef's show...

Sawyer had a blast with Grandma!

Hayden loved having his very own chair and big boy fork!:)

Daddy's Rite Aid family!

Hayden and Ms. Jess!

Mr. Wayne helped Hayden play with Daddy's new light up frisbee!!

The yummy cake...

Daddy at work with his boys!

The boys had such a great time visiting Daddy at work. He is at a really busy pharmacy, so we don't get a chance to go see him at work very often. It was a nice treat for everyone and Daddy loved the surprise! Speaking of surprises, Matt threw me a little surprise party back in November for my 30th birthday that was in December. Everyone knows I am not big on surprises, but this one was great. I had absolutely no idea and it was so nice to get together with friends and family. He had it at the same Mexican restaurant I had his Surprise 30th back in 2009 which I thought was pretty cool. Oh, and he had our neighbor Kate make the most incredible cake. It fit me to a tee!:) We also went with my family to The Cheesecake Factory(my favorite!) on my actual birthday and to see the lights at Lake Lanier. So fun!

I told you I was surprised!

Check out this awesome cake! Y'all know I love to shop!:)

The whole group!

We let Hayden drive through the lights at Lake Lanier.
BIG deal for us and he LOVED it! I guess we'll
have to let him do it more often!:)

One of the pretty lights we saw...

Birthday dinner at Cheesecake! Check out Hayden and Uncle Danny!!!

Can you tell I love a good ornament?!?

This next picture has nothing to do with family birthdays, but we attended some friends of ours joint 30th birthday party back in November so I just had to include a pic from that as well! It was a nice night out for Matt and I with no kids!!! Doesn't happen very often around here, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Happy Birthday Heather and Justin!

Now on to Gigi and Grandaddy's birthdays. We got together to have them a joint birthday celebration because their birthdays are really close together. Normally we do it separately, but this year we had to do it together because there was only one time everyone could do it. We usually celebrate by going to dinner somewhere, but we decided to do something a little different this time since we were celebrating both birthdays at once. The whole fam got together and went bowling, and then we all went to lunch together. It was nice to change it up and do something different. Everyone had a blast! It was Hayden's first time bowling and he had a great time. He was over it by the time the 10 frames were up(really probably the 5th!), but he really enjoyed it to begin with.

I guess I get my present opening skills from my Momma!
Look how excited she was over some coffee!!!

Happy Birthday Gigi and Grandaddy! We got them some cupcakes
from a place called Gigi's cupcakes in Roswell. Of course I
went there just because of the name, but it turns out
the cupcakes are out of this world. So yummy!!!

The many bowling poses! Why is it that men
always look better bowling?!?

And get way more of these?!?

Of course, I thought Hayden looked the best!

We started off trying to show him how to push it with it on the floor, and that didn't go over so well. Eventually, Grandaddy saw this little contraption and boy did Hayden have fun with it! He could push it all by himself and he would watch the ball all the way until it hit the pins. So cute!

Can you tell how tense he would get right
after he did the initial push?!?

He didn't stay tense for long! He would dash to
the side as quick as possible so he could
see where his ball was going!

Cheering it on...

Yes, he is so excited his feet are actually OFF the ground!

We will most definitely be trying bowling again sometime in the future! I can't wait until Sawyer can join in on the fun!:)

Bowling fun!

I promise I will try my best not to get so behind on the birthday blogging next time! That doesn't mean it will happen, but I will TRY!:) Happy Birthday Everyone!!!