STARKVILLE CHRISTMAS PARADE 2017

I thought I would do a super quick post because I don't have a whole lot of pictures from the night but Monday night we went to Starkville's Christmas Parade. We always enjoy this parade and last year it was rained out and it was never rescheduled. So we were super excited to be able to go again. Elle was especially thrilled because this year she was riding on our church's float. The theme for our float was Peanuts Christmas. So I threw together an outfit for Elle so she could be Patty!

Elle had to be at the float a good bit before the parade started so we parked our car over at the church and then walked her over to where the float was. Her friends were all arriving as their own Peanuts characters. So we left her there and then took Walker over to Little Dooey for a quick dinner before heading to our spots in front of the church so that we could watch the parade. Since Walker didn't get to go to the parade last year we couldn't wait to take him and let him see all the police motorcycles, fire trucks, the floats and of course Santa. As expected he totally loved it and has talked about it all week and said he wants to do it again.

Elle had an absolute ball riding on the float and saw lots of people along the streets she knew including her teacher and lots of friends. It was a fun night at the parade.

Daddy and Walker at Little Dooeys. Walker was wound up and ready to go!

Loving al the blue lights from the police motorcycles.

Starkville Utility truck had pretty old school lights we liked.

Walker doesn't look happy here but he was.

Hooray! Here comes Elle!

See our little Patty in the pink!

Waving at us!

THANKSGIVING BREAK

We had a great Thanksgiving break. It was very low key and even included an Egg Bowl that didn't go the way we hoped and things even got a lot worse football wise when our football and the entire staff and all the recruits left us to go to Florida but that is another post for another day. Despite all that we did have a really good Thanksgiving! 

The day before Thanksgiving we were up bright and early so that we could swing through Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolates. Then it was on to the Urgent Care so we could stand at the door and hopefully be one of the first people in to avoid waiting for three hours. Elle had been complaining of an ear ache and Walker seemed to have some crud and had been very very cranky. I am glad we went because Elle did indeed have an ear infection and Walker tested positive for strep so antibiotics for everyone! Hooray!

Hot chocolate for the sickies.

Being in doctors office with two kids is pretty hard. Don't touch anything doesn't really work.

Later that day I made the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving and Elle of course had to lick the bowl.

The next morning we got up and I made a big breakfast and got dressed and the parade had just started when Nanee and CeCe got to the house so we watched a lot of it all together. I say it every year but I love the parade so much! This year the Egg Bowl was on Thanksgiving Day and in Starkville. It was pretty chilly during the day and the it was supposed to get really cold that night right around kickoff at 6:30. So I decided to stay home with Walker and watch the game on tv and put Walker to bed. So since the game was that night we ate Thanksgiving "dinner" around 2. Then we lazed around for a little while before Kenny, Elle, Mom and Annie all went to the game!

Thanksgiving Family picture 2017

Walker enjoyed the dip.

Watching the parade with my boy.

Watching the parade with my girl.

They did stop by the tailgate for an hour or two before they went into the game. 

Elle was happy to see her friend and to run around.

I don't really say a whole lot about the game. Our quarterback got really hurt in the first few minutes of the first quarter and it was devastating to watch and it just wasn't our night. It was a very hard loss. Everyone made it until the fourth quarter before they came home and said they didn't get to freezing cold.

The day after Thanksgiving Mom and Annie helped me put up all the trees. I had put up everything else Christmas decor wise so all I had left were the four trees. We got the State tree,  Walker's tree and Elle's tree up and decorated and then we got the family tree up but waited until that night it was just the four of us to decorate it. The kids were actually a good bit of help this year and the tree got decorated without any ornament casualties.

 

Walker is loving all things Christmas already! I took this picture when he 

asked Kenny to pick him up so he could look more closely at the State tree.

We got a new tree for the family tree and it is a lot bigger. Kenny took this picture while 

I was fluffing the tree. Which is truly the worst part!

Decorating the tree

Kenny had to man the top of the tree because he is the only one who can reach it!

Attempting to put the angel on the top but we couldn't quite reach it.

Sunday morning Kenny and I taught Sunday school and our pastor had the kids 

doing pictures for an advent calendar.

After church we rode out to Old Waverly for lunch.

MAGIC KINGDOM FOR THE LAST DAY

We are finally to the last post about our Disney Vacation! Phew! Our last day we went back to Magic Kingdom! We had the best last day that you could have! First thing that morning we had a reservation with Cinderella at her castle for breakfast. I will admit that I was a little stressed about getting there on time since our reservation was before the park even opened. But Kenny took care of it all by arranging for us to get one of the Minnie Vans to pick us up that morning because they are through Disney and are the only cars that can take you directly to the entrance of Magic Kingdom! We got there with time to spare and no body else was in the park so we had time to take amazing pictures without a soul in them! Hooray Kenny!

We watched this car and were so excited to finally ride in one on our last day!

Headed into Cinderella's castle for breakfast.

While we waited to meet Cinderella, Elle did a few curtsies in front of the carousel.

Cinderella's Royal Table was so amazing and we enjoyed it so much! When you arrive at the castle you meet Cinderella and they have a Photopass person there to take your picture with her and you can get her autograph and talk to her for a few minutes. Then you head upstairs where they bring you a gorgeous plate of pastries and other things as soon as you sit down that were so yummy! You order breakfast and the dining room is so pretty. Then you wait for the princesses to come meet you. We did not have to wait very long! Snow White, Ariel, Aurora and Jasmine were all there the morning we were there. The only other one I wished had been there was Belle but we met her later so it all worked out perfectly! 

Snow White

Ariel

Aurora

Jasmine

Breakfast with Daddy and the Princesses

After breakfast we made our way over to ride the carousel one more time since it was right there!

My favorite picture from the entire trip.

Picture with Alice in front of the teacups which we did not ride 

because no one in our family enjoys spinning.

We had a fast pass for the newish roller coaster 7 Dwarfs Mine Train which is a super fun but simpler roller coaster. We enjoyed it the first time so of course we got back in line to ride it again. The crowd level was low that day so we didn't have to wait for more than 30-45 minutes for anything and I was able to keep getting fast passes through out the day!

Playing with some water thing while we were in line for Mine Train

Rode with Mommy one time.

Rode with Daddy one time.

Skipping through Magic Kingdom to go meet Princess Belle.

The next thing we did was an absolute hit with Elle. We went to Belle's "house" and they engaged all the kids in performing a play for Belle. They were all given roles and Elle was Maurice's horse. She trotted up to Belle at one point and said "Nay." She was so excited about it and it was super cute. After they perform the play for Belle they all get to meet her and take a picture with her. She was one of the main princesses that she wanted to meet when we told her we were going to Disney so this was such a special way to meet her! 

Elle and Belle!

That day we were determined to find Kenny a turkey leg for him to have for lunch! So we made our way over to Adventureland to get one which he loved and we laughed introducing Elle to the turkey leg which she thought was yummy too. After we ate we rode Pirates of the Caribbean which we all really liked. It is a classic.

 
Kenny and his turkey leg.

We all got a picture with the leg.

Mid afternoon we made our way over to the parade route to see the big magical parade. Elle was unsure whether she wanted to go at first over riding the rides but we basically made her and she loved it. It really was so awesome with so many characters and the floats are so neat.

I can't write this post without mentioned that we rode Thunder Mountain three times that last day. It was actually how we ended the day which was the exact right way to end the trip! Elle's favorite!

That evening we rode the ferry over to the Polynesian for a Luau/Hula dinner and show. The show was decently long but we even had the chance to go down and do our own Hula at one point.

Enjoying some noodles.

The venue we were in was decorated for Christmas. It was very pretty!!

Daddy took a picture of us down in the front after we got done hula-ing.

Posing in front of some gorgeous flowers on our way out and back to our hotel.

Friday morning we got up and packed and left Disney World until next time! On our way out of town the draw of Bay Hill was too strong and Kenny was dying to show it to us! So we did a quick swing through. We even got to take a picture in front of the statue they had erected in Arnie's honor since Kenny had been there last summer. It was a beautiful course and property and I am sure we will be back!