Disney!!!

We had wanted to take Celeste to Disney World around Christmastime and some close friends of ours (whose son is Celeste's age and friend) were able to come too, making the trip even more fun.

We didn't tell Celeste about the planned trip to Disney World until the moment we picked her up from school after her Christmas party on Friday, December 16^th. We arrived with a newly purchase, hot pink furry "Rockstar" duffel bag, packed with lots of Disney things and activities to entertain her during our long drive ahead. And we told her where we were going, and here's a photo of her reaction!

We met the Baker family at Chic-fil-A and Celeste grabbed her new luggage and rode in their car for the first leg of our trip.

We had such an amazing week of vacation! Here are some of the photos from the trip.

Here's my favorite photo from the Nemo exhibit at Epcot.

Celeste was able to meet most every princess and several Disney characters. But her favorite princess is Rapunzel. Perhaps it's because of her long curls and how often the kids at school say she's like Rapunzel, but regardless, Rapunzel is her favorite. And on our final day at Magic Kingdom, Celeste got to meet Rapunzel and get her autograph and photo.

Some of our best photos are from Epcot.

We had so much fun, but were glad to be back home, whew! Just in time for Christmas. ;)

Taylor Family Christmas Photos

Well, it's been 2 years since we've had our family pictures taken, and Celeste has grown up quite a lot since then. So last Saturday, we made it over to Portrait Innovations for our Christmas pictures. Here are some of the photos!

As part of the bribe to get Celeste to come and take photos with us, I told her that she could pick out anything she wanted from her clothes to wear and that we would take some special pictures of just her in that favorite outfit. Eric's eyebrows shot up when I told her that, and we both knew it would be interesting to see what she would come up with. She did a pretty good job, and it is totally her!

For this last pose, the photographer had been enamored with her hair and told her to turn around and face the camera. Well, he took about 3 shots of this same pose, and she turned around for each one. It was so cute.

Hard to believe how quickly time flies. Has it really been 5 ¹/₂ years since I had this little baby girl?

How Many Hats

The other day, Ms. Linda sent Celeste's artwork that she's done since last fall home with her. And of course, Celeste had to try on every single hat in there, and had to take pictures. So cute!

You may be wondering what's all that stuff on her face. Well, if I told you that we stopped by Ben & Jerry's for a special Mommy and Celeste time, and that she only ate a couple of bites, would you believe me? (It's true.)

My favorite..

Yesterday, I was able to take off work and spend some time with one of my friends who I've been close with since we were, well, smaller than Celeste is now. She brought her daughter and we took the kids to iT'Z. That place is a way better version of Chuck-E-Cheese; no looming furry and dusty mouse chasing your kids, no overhead crawl space full of all kinds of bacteria, but a miniature bowling alley, bumper cars, go karts and laser tag, plus all of the games that Chuck-E-Cheese offers. And their pizza is actually pretty good. It was a lot of fun, the girls really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed getting to see my friend!!

After our day together, we came home and had our usual time of chasing each other around the house. Here, she was grabbing onto my legs and laughing as I walked around with her in tow. Ha ha ha, she is a lot of fun, that's for sure!

To Be Five Again

As this December creeps up, I'm quite scared of my looming 30^th birthday. I have 6 more months to actually be in my 20s, then I'm officially a dinosaur. At least in the eyes of my five-year-old, anyway.

I look at her simple life that she leads, and how anxious she is to grow up and be a big person, and I must say there's a tiny bit of irony. I mean, think about how tough it must be to have to come home, eat a meal that's prepared at your demands, watch "Wonder Pets," drink chocolate milk, play outside with a big fluffy dog that all the other kids are scared of, run around in the sprinklers with your swimsuit on, then take a bath in a magical spaceship filled with your favorite plastic toys (who can transform into anything), and end your evening by falling asleep atop a beautiful princess castle bed that has a slide attached? Whew, she must have it rough. Poor kid.

Hiding from Daddy in the Bathtub...

And who can forget the daily routine of roughhousing, tickling each other and getting smothered in Mommy kisses? What a hard life she leads...

If only I could be five again...

October Princess

This year for her Halloween party at her daycare, Celeste was a princess. Here are a few pictures from her party.

She is my beautiful lilttle princess. And boys, back off; she already has a boyfriend!