Disney for Chance's Birthday

Playing inside Winnie-The-Pooh's house
For Chance's birthday this year we all went to Disney! It was Chance's first time at Disney World, we decided to hit the Magic Kingdom. At first Chance didn't know what was going on but as soon as he saw Cinderella's Castle he got excited, throughout the whole day he kept calling the castle disney world. We took it nice and easy, keeping busy but not pushing ourselves too hard. We rode the teacups and then It's A Small World. Waiting in line Chance didn't seem convinced that it would be worth it in the end but when he saw the little boat and realized we were getting in there he started getting into the whole experience.

Chance riding It's A Small World

We then Road the Carousel:


And the Winnie-The-Pooh ride before heading over to Tomorrowland. As we went along we let Chance help us pick what to go on next, as soon as he saw the race cars that was the only thing he wanted to do. Chance and Scott rode in a car together, they had tons of fun. Scott pushed the pedal and Chance got to steer, they bounced back and forth laughing the whole time.


Then we rode the People Mover (Rayna's favorite) and looked down upon all the people and other rides below.


All of us riding the People Mover
We finished the rounds in Tomorrowland then moved over to Adventure Land and Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we moved on to a ride with a little more speed, Chance was tall enough and really wanted to go so we then rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was lots of fun! Later we moved on to the Haunted Mansion which scared Chance a bit, he was whining and squished in between me and Scott. I put my hand over his eyes and told him he didn't have to look if he didn't want to but by the end he had pulled my hand away and was watching everything. When we walked out of the Haunted House he jumped up and down and said "I made it!"
This visit to Disney was so much fun and a great bonding experience for Scott and Chance. Every ride that was even a little bit scary or fast Chance requested to sit with Scott instead of me so that they could be brave together. It was so cute.
I see more trips to Disney in our future.

Spelling

The other day I was sitting at the computer and Chance asked to come over and type. So I opened notepad, he climbed on my lap and started to type. We have done this before and mostly he just types random keys and talks to me about what he is "typing". This day was a little different though, he kept talking about the zoo and telling me that he wanted to go. I told him that there really isn't the same kind of zoo here that we have in New Orleans and maybe we would go to the zoo when we got back to NOLA. He wasn't happy about this answer and after a minute he got really focused on his typing then pointed at the screen and said "I want to go to the zoo!"
When I looked up this is what I saw:


along with all his random typing, the word zoo.

Brrrrrrrr

Today I received a few pictures from Scott He is in Burlington, VT and the story pretty much tells itself.
From his Hotel:


From Work:

It looks cold but just beautiful (for a visit).

And a screen shot from the weather app on his phone:


He'll be able to thaw out on Wednesday, that's when he'll be home!

Bean Bag Chairs as a Bed?...Yep.

Three nights ago Chance said he wanted to sleep in his bean bag chairs. He has two that sit right next to his bed which is usually where Scott and I sit when we read Chance his bedtime stories. He climbed onto the the bean bag chairs and asked me to cover him up with this blankets, which I did, adding his little kitty and monkey that he always sleeps with and his flashlight and water. I was sure he was going to get up in five minutes or less asking me to tuck him into his bed but I was surprised. He went right to sleep, no noise no getting up at all. The next day he wanted to sleep on his bean bag chairs for nap so he did and then the next night for bedtime then nap then bedtime again. I don't know why he wants to sleep on his bean bag chairs but he is loving it for right now so we'll let him have this little bit of little kid fun as long as he goes to sleep with no issues. I snapped this picture last night when I walked through his room to go to bed, he's fast asleep.

A horrible accident

A few days ago Chance was playing in his room while Scott and I were hanging out in the living room. After a while I noticed that it got quiet in Chance's room so I went in to check it out. This is what I found, obviously a horrible accident happened here. Actually it was staged here, Chance's imagination is really taking off!

Hide and Seek

The other day we were playing Hide and Seek. It was my turn to count and his turn to hide. After counting to ten I came into his room to find this. He built himself a perfect hiding spot!

Anna Maria's Birthday Party

Last Saturday we went to Anna Maria's birthday party at Audubon Park. I had a good time talking to the Moms and eating the amazing tamales that her family made, I remembered them from last year.

Chance had a wonderful time playing with all the other kids and hit a little boy milestone. He played his first completely impromptu "football" game with the other little boys. The boys started it themselves with no help from parents. They took turns throwing the ball then all running after it.

They did such a wonderful job taking turns I was honestly amazed. Just watching them I was so proud (?), happy they were having such a good time.

After the game, it was time for the pinata! Everyone got a turn whacking it with the special stick Anna Maria's Mom. Chance made a few good hits, then after everyone had a turn one of the older boys went at it till the candy fell all over.

Chance picked out a bunch of chocolates since those are his favorite as we have learned since Halloween.

This is just a quick photo we took of ourselves while waiting as other kids took a turn hitting the pinata.

Video of Scott and Chance at the Piano

This is a video of Scott playing the piano and Chance singing along. They are performing the ABC song from the TV show Super Why on PBS. Notice Chance's bow at the end.

Our New Piano

piano still in the store

A few weeks ago I told you we would be getting a new piano, well yesterday it finally arrived.

Delivery trailer
Though it was supposed to be delivered on the 19th the movie it was in went over pushing the delivery back to the 22nd which was ok by me as Scott didn't get home till the 20th this way we would all be here for the delivery. They pulled up in front of the house just before 5pm, Chance and I went out to watch.

The guys from LaFargue working hard.
It was hard work to get the piano up the few stairs into the house but these guys know what they are doing so it was in the house in no time. We had already prepped the house for the arrival of the piano so they could easily move it into place.

Chance being first to play the new piano.
After the piano was in it's new home and set up, Chance was the first person to "play" it. He is very excited as we all are to have a big piano in the house. We have set up a few rules but since he is used to being around instruments he is doing a wonderful job with the new piano. We pulled out some of our song books and Scott started to play while Chance and I sang along. Then Chance reminded us that we should take turns so we each got an opportunity to play. After that Chance went over to his little piano and started to play along, for a little while it was like dueling pianos, but it was all in good fun.

I want to send a big thank you to Nana and Grandpa Von for providing the funds to get this piano. Without you this above picture would not be possible. Just after the piano arrived when Scott sat down and started to play, Chance asked him to teach him how to play so Scott picked him up and they sat together playing the piano for quite a while. Thank you both.

Facetime

Now that Scott and I both have iPhone 4Gs we can do a little thing called facetime. Which is basically video phone. Instead of just talking on the phone we can also see each other, it's pretty cool especially for Chance. Now we can call Daddy to tell him goodnight and actually see him. The other day Scott took a screen shot of what we look like when we are facetimeing him. It's pretty cute, this is what he sees when we are all on the phone talking together.

Concert in the Quarter

Yesterday we went with a friend from the playgroup to a kids concert in the Quarter. It was held at the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park which is the only national park dedicated to an art form and within walking distance to the house. When we first arrived two of the park rangers were on stage finishing their set. We only caught the last two songs but learned later that they had played songs tracing the history of jazz which I have to say sounds like the best park ranger job in the world.
Soon Johnette Downing came on which is who we were there to see. She played lots of great kids music and both Chance and Lilly had a wonderful time singing along, dancing and playing drums. In the first picture they are looking at the book "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly" while we all sang along. In the second picture they are getting ready to jump along to the song every time we said the word 'jump'. They are having this concert series in December and then all next year too so I think we will be going back.

I to I

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date very well, things are crazy around here and I haven't been in the writing mood but I will try to do better. These are a couple pictures I took at I to I last Thursday. Chance has fun there but the general structure of I to I doesn't fit his personality very well so each day we visit is a bit of a trial but you can see it's not all bad he loves playing outside with his friends.
Just look at that smile in the first picture, priceless.

Black and Gold

In case you don't know last Sunday the Saints won their game and whenever that happens some special birds show up in City Park. The day after each winning game a flock of black and gold flamingos land somewhere in the park. Last Monday I saw a picture posted on City Park's facebook page and since we had nothing else to do and I was sure I recognized the location of the birds we decided to get in the car and head out to find them. Sure enough there they were stuck in the grass right by the playground. We had a good time petting them and running around in between them. Let's hope for another Saints win this week so we can check out these special birds one more time.

Piano

Look what's coming home with us on the 19th:


Thanks to Nana and Grandpa Von we will have a piano in the house very soon. We spotted it last time we were out looking at the piano store and knew if would be perfect for us, it plays well, is in good shape and was the right price. So after a little money shuffling (thank you again Nana and Grandpa Von) we went back a couple days later and purchased it. Though it belongs to us we won't be able to get it till the 19th because it is going to be in a movie. The Lucky One is being shot just outside New Orleans this month. I am very excited to be getting a piano because it is an instrument we can all play Scott and I both play and so can both be part of teaching Chance. We've already cleared out a spot for the piano to go now we just wait...sometimes waiting is hard:)

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we went trick or treating with our playgroup friends. We were to meet them uptown (the same place we went last year) at 5:30 but with the Saints game (Who Dat!!) we wanted to make sure we were able to get through the Dome traffic and to our destination on time meaning we were ready to go a bit early. This first picture is Chance sitting on the couch in costume being bored waiting till it was time to leave the house.

We arrived a little early at State Street so we decided to hit a few houses before everyone else joined us. This picture is Chance and I returning from the "big house on the corner" our first trick-or-treating house of the evening.
Chance did an excellent job this year, he remembered exactly what to do and was very excited to get tons of candy. Either Scott or I walked up to a few houses with him but he did most of them all on his own, well actually with his little friends. They went up as a team each saying trick-or-treat and thank you.

Last year Chance was a little worried when we got to the houses that were really decorated for the holiday but this year he was very brave taking on the scary houses with little hesitation. Candy is a wonderful motivator. This picture is Chance, Octavian and Ximena in front of some awesome decorations.

Chance had a great time and didn't really want to leave but we had walked all up and down the portion of State Street that is closed to cars so it was time to leave. After we got home we turned on the game and dumped out the candy. Chance got a serious haul of candy between trick-or-treating, the parade Saturday and the playdate on Friday.
We've decided to let him eat as much as he wanted then taper him off on Monday after all it is Halloween.

This is just a photo of some of the decorations at the first house we went to. Where we went most of the houses go all out for Halloween.

P.S. there may be actual piano purchasing today, I'm so excited, Thank you Nana and Grandpa Von!!

Just Resting

Today Chance found a sunny spot and curled up on the floor so I covered him with a blanket. Soon after Deedle came over to share the sun. It didn't last too long but it was super cute when it did.

Scott and Chance sending Mommy a message

Halloween Pumpkin.

See how much Chance is doing to help.
We have been pretty busy since we got back from Florida Wednesday night. Thursday was a whirlwind of groceries and playdates and mail sorting (there was a lot of it) and I can't even remember what else. Today started off the same with a radio shack and grocery store visit before our Halloween playdate at 10:30a. While Chance and I were at the park for our playdate Scott traveled around town (literally) to find a pumpkin. Since we were out of town we didn't get to carve one early and that meant we had to actually search for a place who still had some in stock. Luckily we did and so after a very short nap and a little piano shopping (we are looking at getting one for Christmas) we came back to the house to start carving.
Chance is really helpful with most things but pumpkin carving is not one of them, he hates to get his hands dirty and can't be trusted with a knife so he doesn't get to help much. But he loves pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns so it's a good time all round. I scraped out the inside and Scott designed and carved. He's a happy little pumpkin.

Pictures

These are a couple pictures I have taken in the last week

Chance usually sleeps about two hours for his midday nap but if he makes it to the two hour mark and still isn't awake I go in to gently wake him so he will go to sleep at night without trouble. Usually he is already starting to wake up when I go in to get him but one day last week he was still fast asleep. So much so that he had turned all around in his bed. He was so cute I had to take a picture before I woke him.

The other day we went to a birthday party here in Fort Meyrs with a local meetup group. Chance had a great time having kids his age to play with after fun and cake and all the birthday party events we were given some party favors to take home. This is Chacne in the back seat of the car on the way back to the house, he is reading the little book in his favor box and wearing the sunglasses from the favor box too. I guess that is the sign that these are two great party favors.

6 mile cypress

Chance looking for alligators (we didn't see any)
Yesterday we were looking for something fun to do that was a little different from just a playground so we headed out to six-mile cypress slough presserve. We followed the boardwalk back through the swamp looking for animals and listening to all the nature sounds around us. There are great learning opportunities throughout the whole presserve and Chance is entering the age where he is actually interested in what the signs say. He asked lots of questions and listened very well, staying quiet so we didn't scare away the animals.


Chance asking what the white spots on the trees are (their lichens)

We saw wild hogs, birds, turtles and fish. We sat and listened to the birds call and the bugs make their chirping noises that fill the air in the swamp. We had a great time.

wild hogs

Splash Pad

Chance trying not to get wet, enhanced by Scott.
Last Friday we met a friend of mine from High School at a local splash pad to let the kids play together. Though her son is only 2 years old they had a great time playing, there were quit a few little boys Chance's age there too. At first he was trying to stay dry but after he finally did get wet he ran through actually trying to get hit with the jets of water.

Chance playing with some new friends, totally ok with being soaked.

just chillin'

This morning I found Chance chillin' in the chair reading the little booklet that came inside a Bambi DVD.