P is for ???

When it's time to artwork, I like to have some of the supplies set out and have the kids guess what they might be creating. For this project, JT used some of his creativity to come up with an idea if what we might be making.

JT declared, "Mommy, P is for Palm Tree!" It did in fact resemble a palm tree, but that's not quite what I had in mind;)

It was a "P" activity, but this was an animal.

Starting out with the legs.

Next came the arm.

Then the ears.

What JT thought was palm fronds was in fact bamboo!

Finding the perfect spot for the bamboo.

P is for Panda!!!

The kids asked to make the face that the Panda would make when it was eating its bamboo. They crack me up!

Hooting over the letter O

     Now that we are back into the school routine, we have jumped back into our letter lessons at home with JT and his friends. Last week we had some fun with the letter O.

Before I brought the kids to the table I asked if they had any guesses for what we might be making that starts with the letter O. They all guessed an octopus. Not this time, but great try! We were making owls.

We made our owls with large O bodies and added the face and eyes.

JT pat-patting his owl face on.

Mason finding the perfect spot for his owl's eyes.

Then they added some little feet to perch upon a branch.

JT giving a big thumbs up for his owl.

Let's add a little detail to the eyes.

Ella watching Mason hard at work.

Then the boys watched Ella as she drew in her eyes.

The kids were Hoo-hooting the rest of the day!

They also requested to so a silly face picture. Love having so many smiles and giggles with these three!

Alphabet Catch Up

     It's been a very long time since I've had any posts on the letter of the week activities. The kids and I have been plugging along the alphabet, but took a break during the holiday season with several vacations didn't allow everyone to be here. Rather than do a post for each letter, I'm taking the easy route and doing a mass post to get us up to date.

                      I is for Iguana! The kids were feeling all sweet with their poses that day.

                     J is for Jaguar! We had many little roarers in the house that day!

        K is for Kangaroo! Horrible lighting- the K served as the Momma with a pouch 

                                         and baby in the lower part of the letter.

L is for Lion. I loved the way this letter turned out with the mane.

     M is for mouse. The kids had fun making their

   own shade of gray by mixing black and white paint.

          Adorable little mouse face for this letter.

     Not sure where all of my photos went 

      for this letter, but everyone completed this.

   N is for newspaper. This letter was a challenge to find 

an animal that would be easy for me to create for the kids.

     So I decided to opt for an item that begins with 

             the letter and glue it on their letter.

     We are back at it this week with letter O and looking forward to being up to date with the fun art projects for the remaining letters.

Fiddle Ostrich Encore

     When I uploaded my photos from our vacation, I realized I had my favorite Elf on a Shelf activity from this year and failed to post it. So, here is Fiddle Ostrich's final curtain call until the end of this year.

 One morning Fiddle Ostrich arrived with a note and two bowls. JT was told to plant the special chips during the day. The next morning, JT would see what happened.

 JT took each chip one by one and planted them in the flour.

 He took special care to make sure they were covered. I wonder what tomorrow morning will bring?

The special chips turned into mini chocolate chip muffins! Yum!!!  

Rides in Action

     The Magic Kingdom had the most rides with photos taken during a portion of the ride. We usually managed to be silly and a bit creative with some posing. Here is a look back at some of our fun times on the rides.

One of JT's favoirte rides- Splash Mountain. All he kept saying to me during the climb up to the top is "Don't put your arm around me Momma." So I settled on holding his leg.

First time on Space Mountain. I totally muffed it by posing toward the wrong side. JT's only time on this ride as he decided, "I didn't love it." afterward. The total darkness was his common thread for rides he didn't "love".

You can see Lindsay followed my advice on what direction to pose.

On our full day at the Magic Kingdom, the park closed at 1am. John volunteered to take JT back to the hotel at bedtime so the girls and I could have some more fun. We stated until closing and had so much fun!

Looks like a combination of Nazi lovers and some military folks in the back.

We went on Space Mountain several times.

Facing the correct direction this side. Though the guy in front of me didn't- ha ha!

Hear no evil...

See no evil, speak no evil, and  a Mom who is either raising the roof or is doing a "Say What?" expression.

The long vacation clearly took a toll on the sisterly love.

Peace out homies.

We also went on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Shooting at the bad guys and targets.

I look so dead serious that it cracks me up. I did manage to kick Courtney's butt though ;)

For our final ride of our vacation, we chose Splash Mountain. Mom and Dad smooching in the front followed by their 4 children disgusted by the PDA.

Just a little bit wet.

All of the kids got very wet as well. I was a sissy and took cover under my jacket after our photo snapped.

Magic Kingdom

     Day 3 and again on day 5 for a half day before our flight, we were at the Magic Kingdom. Very much like Disneyland in California, the Apedaile6 ,except JT, were in familiar territory.

Our entry into the park.

One of the two ways to get to the park entrance. Monorail or Ferry boat.

JT and Lindsay had a spot next to the window.

Courtney and Sarah right next to them.

View from the Monorail as we approached our stop. JT was so excited to go see the "Magic Castle".

Main Street Christmas Tree.

On Main Street with Cinderella's Castle in the background. This was the day JT decided using a thumbs up in many of the photos was the thing to do.

A bit closer to the castle.

Meeting Woody and Jessie was the highlight of all the character interactions. The duo was hilarious and we seemed to have a pretty extended time with them.

Since John wanted the photo with just Woody, Jessie decided to photo bomb their moment.

Jessie greeted the girls, while Woody bent down to JT's level.

JT and Woody played some pat a cake.

I love how happy JT is in the photo.

How sweet is this?

Jessie pulled a flower off the bush and did the "He loves me, he loves me not" game. Woody was devastated when it ended up on Love me not.

Love Woody and Jessie!

One different attraction (exterior) from Disneyland at the Magic Kingdom is the Haunted Mansion.

The exterior and que line are very different, though the ride is very similar, if not identical to what we have experienced at Disneyland.

This is a fun area to kill some time waiting. The piano will play notes when you press the keys.

The instruments will also play when you rub them on this plaque.

The books pop out at various spots and you can push them back in.

The recently revamped Fantastyland. The movie Tangled is featured in this portion of the land.

Rapunzel's tower.

Looks beautiful at night.


Even better with some fireworks!

The iconic "It's a Small World" looks very different from it's west coast version. 

A scaled down version of the large clock and figurines are still in the front of the ride and cue. I'm sure the climate of rainy Florida made that a necessity to keep the guests dry by moving in indoors.

The new Snow White ride that is still under construction. It's based on the Dwarfs and their mine. Looks like it will be a fun, small coaster.

JT tried to pull the sword out of the stone.

Lindsay didn't have much luck either.

Back side of the castle.

The only way through- a congested passage to the front of the park.

There was a large stage area in front of the castle where several performances took place during the day.

Walt , Mickey, and the beautiful illuminated castle.

Mickey and Minnie topiary's.

Belle's castle that sits atop of the new Be Our Guest restaurant.

Some more stores and places to eat that are from Belle's village. Just love that cocky Gaston!

Ariel's home that sits near her new ride and place you can meet her.

A place we frequented during our Magic Kingdom visit- Thunder Mountain! One of JT's top rides from all of the parks.

Though JT loves Thunder Mountain, he was very excited to go to the Stitch attraction! JT loves this show- probably his favorite Disney show right now. 

On our last day I was so exited to see Stitch was out. 

If you aren't familiar with Lilo and Stitch, he is quite mischievous. After he took JT's hat off, he rubbed it in his armpit-gross! JT talked about that for the rest of the day.

After Stitch  rearranged John's hat sideways, we were ready for a family photo.

Time for JT's first driving experience. 

Note the thumbs up ;)

JT was very focused on driving his car with great care.

Approaching the turn.

Pure joy right there- love it!

The Apedaile women followed the guys up. 

Courtney ready for her turn at the wheel.


It won't be long before she is on the road for real. Ahhhh!!

Courtney did great driving.

John and I switched and I had a turn with JT. He loved this ride so much.

Thank goodness for the track in the center. Not quite road ready yet, JT.

A great spot for a family shot.

Just a bit further down, we found an even better spot!

One of the spots I wanted to make sure to go to during our time at the Magic Kingdom. 

I have read a lot about the Dole Whips. It's a treat that is only offered in this spot and is delicious! It's a pinapple juice float with your choice of orange soft serve (left side), or pineapple soft serve (right side). So we tried both- hard to choose which one we enjoyed better. Though you can also select vanilla bean soft serve, which we had for JT without juice which was very good. Might try vanilla Dole Whip next time!

Discovered taking a photo at the entrance at the end of the day is far easier and less crowded than the morning.

When we left Monday, we took the ferry back to the parking lot.

Thumbs up once again from JT and showing off his new Disney cars.

Watching the birds and the other ferry passing by.

Saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom.

Thanks for the memories! It was a wonderful trip and Christmas celebration for the Apedaile6.