We were so excited a dream that we’ve wished for for a long time was finally coming true!  Mike and I have never been to Disney World, so we all couldn’t wait to experience all of the magic!  We even got a bonus day!  Luckily, Mike checked on our flight two days before our departure and found out our flight had been cancelled; It all worked out though!  We caught a flight the night before we were supposed to leave, giving us an extra day to enjoy our resort at Disney!

This is what excitement looks like right here!

  

  

The girls were so excited to see our airplane before we boarded!

 

Silly girl!

What do you do at midnight in the Orlando airport when you are waiting on your bags, the airport is empty, and you are Disney bound?  Dance your little heart out, of course!

 

 

We were so excited to get a Princess and a Frog themed room!  It was freshly remodeled and spelled like hard wood.  It felt like being at a fancy summer camp.  Anna Kate was the one who chose to sleep beside the crocodile each night!

 

Mike and I have wished to go to Disneyworld all of our lives.  Neither of us have ever been.  During our last 10 years of marriage, we talked about going from time to time, but we wanted to take all of our kids, so we decided to wait until the timing was just right for each one of our girls to experience the wonder and magic of such a once in a lifetime experience, especially as little princesses! 

We couldn’t say last February, but instead of taking a 10 year anniversary vacation, we were saving for this dream to come true, and last week, it did!  I’ve wished for a trip to this iconic fairytale land all of my life, and I can honestly say, it lived up to my dreams, and then some.  It was worth the wait!  As a family, we are so grateful for this experience that we got to share together and don’t take a moment of it for granted.  Words can’t describe the beauty, wonder and fun of it all!  Watching the girls experience the magic through the eyes of a child was my favorite part!  And seeing them so happy and alive!  Mike and my glances of pure joy back and forth to each other while watching them revel in feeling special, loved, beautiful, and important made me the happiest wife and mother in the world!  Rara came with us too, and that was incredible in and of itself!  We could not have gone without her, as it would have physically been impossible.  She pushed me in a wheel chair the last 3 days, otherwise I would not have been able to keep up due to my health problems.  I’m beyond thankful for her love for us!

With all of that being said, of course, we took WAY too many pictures.  I spent a couple of hours during nap time earlier this week looking at our pictures for the first time, and that was all I had time to do.  I don’t know how to even get started.  I was a little disappointed in our camera.  The flash broke for part of the trip, and we have lots of pictures that just didn’t turn out.  The memories are so much more alive, vivid and colorful to me than the pictures.  I guess real life is just better, but pictures help kids remember experiences, and that’s why I enjoy taking them.  I’m planning to post and post and post, because this blog is first, for the girls, and I want them to remember this trip and enjoy looking at their pictures digitally for years to come, so if you get Disney-ed out, check back around Christmas.  I’ll probably be through posting by then!

*After I post all of our pictures, I’m going to post more pictures from our Disney PhotoPass that their photographers took of us.  They are super cute, but I have to edit them before I can download them to our computer, so that is on my Post Disney Recovery list, lol!

We had such a fun Halloween evening trick-or-treating with our neighbors and family.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story!  Fun times!

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Love, Pumpkin Pond (Rose, 2/12 years old), Jessie (Anna Kate, 4 1/2 years old), and Groovy Girl (Noelle 7 1/2 years old)

 

Brandon and Tanna threw the most incredible carnival themed 1st birthday party for Audree!  It was so fun and special for everyone!  Here’s Noelle and Audree playing the ducky game while Rose and Cerly were busy thinking about their next games, lol!  Rose was trying to concentrate on getting her first ticket to stick on the rose she just had face-painted on her cheek.  Silly girl!

Cookie the clown was amazing and even did a magic show for all of the kids!

 

The big girls were excited to play with Brylee and try out the dunking booth!

Mike helped Rose throw the ball through the tire.

 

Rose was surprisingly still the entire time Cookie painted her face.  She surprised us with a beautiful rose on Rose’s face.  So thoughtful!

 

Mike and I have decided the Bozo the Clown game from our childhood is the best carnival game ever invented!  We do penny can at home!

Bean bag toss to knock over the cans.  Rose LOVED this game!

 

 

After lots and lots of fun games, we took a popcorn break!  Tanna even thought of this fun ball pit for the littles to play in!

  

Here’s the Pond girl line-up!  Love catching them in the middle of fun, fun, fun!

 

 

Katie came right as I had to leave early to take Noelle to her last October breast cancer awareness football game!  Next week, it’s back to all red, black and white!  At the end of the party, Tanna had set up a fun prize room for the kids to redeem their tickets for prizes!

Happy 1st birthday, baby Audree!!!  You are so loved!

  

 

 

 

 

After we took some sister pictures, I told them to go “dive in!” to play with the pumpkins.  Anna Kate kept her head down long enough for me to ask her what she was doing, and she said, “You told us to dive in!”  Lol!

 

 

 

 

  

Love our pumpkin patch memories each fall!

Here is a side of Anna Kate that you guys haven’t seen here on the bloggity blog.  She is so crazy cool, and when I say she keeps us laughing, I mean, she is soooo funny, as in, hilarious!  One day, she came down stairs wearing what you see here (pirate eye patch, stained grape slush purple lips and all), singing over and over again, “Calling all the monsters, calling all the monsters!”  The whole family was cracking up, and she was loving every minute of it!  Here’s a peek into her world:

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Fun day.  Fun run.  Until it was over.  Rose was not happy to see the 2nd graders go back to class!

         

The Pond girls had a blast celebrating Ella’s 4th birthday at Country Critters!  It was so hot (it’s been going back and forth in Texas between really hot and really cold, which is nothing new, lol), so we improvised our costumes.  

Noelle has always been our sweet animal lover/whisperer!

 

I don’t think there could be a cuter picture of a princess and a goat.  She actually was casting a spell on him with her wand as I was taking this picture, haha!  In the second picture, she was really sad because she wasn’t tall enough to pet the rabbit.  Noelle lifted her up right after this pretty smile!

Rose enjoyed all of the animals so much!  This is her first year to really understand what she is doing, and she’s loving every minute of it!  Texas was dry dry dry until the rain came last week, thankfully.  We needed it so badly!

 

 

Livy is another one of Anna Kate’s sweet school friends!

 

This action shot is so funny to me!

Rose is a little more reserved around animals than you would think.  I think the word is precautious.  She’s outgoing and lively, but she understands danger and boundaries too.  I’m proud of our little pumpkin!

 

 

Hayride and llama time, ha!

 

Ella’s big sister Anna and Noelle waiting to ride the horses while Rose takes the lead!

Rose wanted to ride all by herself.  I asked her if she wanted me to hold her hand, and she said, “No thanks!”  She says thanks when she wants to get her way fast!  I’m telling you, she’s a smart cookie!

Sweet Anna Kate wanted me to walk beside her, which I was so happy to do.  I’m proud of her for giving the horsey ride a chance.  Mike took this picture as I was pointing at Rose running off into the wilderness. 

 

 

Noelle, Noelle, my sweet diva girl, or in this case, disco diva girl!  Mike and I let her have fake eyelashes for Halloween, and she loves it!  I’ve never worn them before, and I was so nervous putting them on her, but she was like, “Go for it, Mom!” (last year, she just wore little pieces, this year it was the whole strip)  She was so excited!  I don’t know where she came from, but I love her to pieces and all that she teaches me about all things girlie!

 

My favorite things about these two pictures are Rose’s expression and Anna Kate’s sweet little feet.  These two pictures capture so much of both of their awesome personalities.  Love my Pond girls!

 

And the next minute, Rose is laughing at herself and picking flowers.

Our Pumpkin Pond in the pumpkin patch!

 

  

Thanks for having us out to the farm!  We had a blast celebrating you and your love for puppies!