oh hey, I'm 52 weeks old!

 That's right folks. 

 Today officially means I am one week away from one!

Lately, I've been all about waving hi and bye to people

and there were even a few times when mom asked me to say hi

and I actually waved

I think my parents are starting to realize how much I really understand

what they say to me

even if I still choose when I'm going to respond

because let's face it, I like doing my own thing

speaking of my own thing

I am now walking all over the place

I have literally walked around the entire house without stopping

the only problem with me walking [according to my parents]

is I now want down, everywhere

and once I'm down, do not pick me up, or I will most likely freak out

[which means mom has had to get over me on the ground
outside of the house pretty quickly]

at home I am starting to be quite the climber

and I am clearly going to be a tom-boy like my mom

because I love playing in the dirt and exploring outdoors

I also love army crawling underneath the sofas

and finding all sorts of treasures
I'm also working on snuggling and giving hugs

^mom & I at 11 months and 3 months^

^when we approve of something, we say "oooh"^

today we were too busy doing some shopping for my party
so instead, I'll just share some photos from our trip to Disneyland last week
next time you will hear from me, I'll be one!
-Everly Mae

good call on the birthday theme

Everly's third trip to Disneyland meant she was getting old enough to really experience the rides.  This trip meant baby girl was sitting on my lap, hands on lap bar, fully engaged in the ride.  This also meant she was now starting to have favorite rides.  When I was trying to figure out what we were going to do for her first birthday I somehow stumbled onto the idea of a Queen of Hearts theme.  I liked the Disney connection, without being too "themey", and since she is too young to pick her own birthday party theme, we decided on "Onederland" [because man, that is a freakin' cute theme].  So, back to our trip to Disneyland, Alice was one of the first Fantasyland rides we went on this trip, and she was so into it all.  Sitting there like a big girl, going in between smiles and very serious looks throughout the entire ride.

Turns out, Alice has now been deemed her favorite ride.  How did I determine this of my eleven month old child you may ask?  Well, as soon as we got off the ride, Everly broke out in tears.  Like serious tears.  Holding her arms out for the green caterpillar we had just gotten off of.  Thankfully, we were quickly able to distract her with all the Disney goodness that was surrounding her, and the tears stopped pretty immediately, but still, her intentions were clear.  Alice, you are the favorite, for now.

And with that being said, today is my last Saturday before birthday weekend, so you better believe we are diving head first into all things related to the Queen of Hearts today - wish me, the mister, and grammie luck, we may need it!

Thanks Sarah for letting us borrow your camera - here is the first proof we used it!

happiest place

Being in Southern California for an International Baccalaureate Educator Conference

meant we had the perfect excuse to visit Disneyland for a bit

I will have to share more a little later, when I am not fighting exhaustion

because right now I am all happy and tired from another great trip to Disney

every experience with Everly is a little different and new

she has now been at three months, seven months, and eleven

and this time was the first trip that she would sit on my lap

hold on to the lap bar

and take in the ride, not like a baby

but sitting still, like a real little girl

we even took a moment at the end of our trip to take a little walk

but as I learned a few days ago, don't let the little lady down to walk

unless you are dedicated to her walking for as long as she wants

because once she gets a taste of walking freedom

she does not want to be held

oh everly, we love you

thanks for being awesome, and being so good to your tired mama!

why we decided to head to disneyland [for another year]

Last year we bought season passes to Disneyland for the very first time, and found out I was pregnant two weeks later.  We took full advantage of our passes, even though I took up a little more space on the rides each time we visited.  When we visited the park in January and took Everly for the first time, we said we would take a year off and buy passes again next year.  Well, last week we were in southern California for vacation, and each day we were down there I was dying not going to Disneyland.  Finally, I woke up one morning and decided we were getting our passes, that very day.  The last two months have pretty much sucked financially.  Between crazy vet bills, crappy car situations, and so on, I was ready to spend money on something fun.  Not to mention, we only have our family friends down near Disneyland for one more year before they move, so the Disney stars were aligned so to say, and we bought our passes.  It was a little happy graduation to me present!

The first day we went, we rocked it hard for nine hours.  And Everly loved it.  We decided to start on the Pirates of the Caribbean to see how she was going to do on rides now that she's older.  Well, the drops in the dark didn't slow her down.  However, no matter what ride we went on, she had a very serious face.  So much stimulation, and very serious about Disneyland, clearly.

^^^visiting where we got engaged just over six years ago^^^

^^^first ride pirates was a success, jumping around too much to get a clear photo - and no stroller for us in Disneyland [we don't own one], naps in the Ergo do the job when on the go, and you can still ride "kid friendly rides"^^^

^^^serious ride face^^^

^^^I would say this parade that we just happened to walk by was one of my favorite Everly moments, ever!  She was having the time of her life, and catching the attention of everyone on the floats.  Seeing your little one having that much fun, especially so young, was worth everything^^^

^^^our "real" attempt at watching a parade on the second day wasn't as successful, which sounds about right.  Everly still checked everything out, but I think was still tired from the day before.  Even though she just woke up from a very long nap in the Ergo, she was rubbing her little face the whole time.  We took her home right after^^^

Had such an amazing time with my little family.  Hope that this year we get to take our extended families with us to visit the park with Everly, because, really, it is just too much fun!

Everly and the Magic Kingdom [part II]

a first trip to Disneyland is pretty magical

even if you are too young to remember it

that is why we photographed the experience pretty thoroughly

I do believe that starting young with Disneyland is key

to really loving the park as an adult [I think I was about two my first visit]

so here are Everly's firsts - Disneyland edition

first ride in Disneyland - Jungle Cruise

our cruise captain was very sweet with E, and since

we were the last tour of the evening, there were very few people on board

and she spared us all the gunshots that might have sent Everly over the edge

instead, we got an animated "bang, bang" from our enthusiastic cast member

first ride in Fantasyland - Peter Pan [E slept through the whole flight]

first ride in California Adventure - Toy Story Mania

Everly was hanging out in the Baby Bjorn on this ride

and I was hoping she was going to slow down the Mr. from getting such 

a high score, unfortunately, he still beat me by a few thousand

first meal in Disneyland - The Plaza Inn on Main Street

even though Everly wasn't joining in on the eating exactly

this was still her first meal in the park

and man, was it a good one

half a fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a biscuit for $13

considering we were in the park, I would say not too shabby of a meal for the price

first parade - Mickey's Soundsational Parade

E really like the parade as we walked by

talk about amazing stimulation for a little one, she was in awe of it all

and as you can see, I was really into her reactions

first character - Donald Duck [Everly's great-grandma's favorite character]

first princess Everly met - Snow White

and as it turned out, Snow White was the only character that Everly smiled for

so, we are going to say that Snow White is Everly's favorite Disney character

at least for now

the day we spent in the park was mostly for pictures and a few rides

the little lady has ridden so far:

Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World [holiday], Dumbo, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Toy Story Mania and visited Mickey and Minnie's houses

for a first trip, I would say it was a success

Everly and the Magic Kingdom [part I]

the beginning of the week we took E on her first "official" vacation

over two days we spent upwards of nine hours in the parks

with a ten week old

and can I just say it really was the best time ever

the mr. and I have been to Disneyland a lot

and we always looked at the people who had babies in the park as crazy people

always asking ourselves why anyone in their right mind would do that

and well, then we were those crazy people

turns out, when it is your baby there is no where else you rather be

than standing in lines for character photo ops

and hitting up Fantasyland real big

 now of course I have many more photos to share

but I figured let's spread out the goodness for a few days

so stay tuned for all of Everly's firsts in the park

as well as some tricks to enjoying [not just surviving] Disneyland with a real little one

so, the past two days were magical

there are many things that I love in this world

I am pretty into the mr.

I love me some Everly Mae

and Disneyland is one of my favorite places on the planet

and the past two days I had all three 

and let's just say, it was AMAZING

and awesome

and I cannot wait to share more of our time 

in the Happiest Place on Earth

but hey, I spent five hours in the park today with a baby

so it is time to take it easy

so I'll just leave you with this little number

let's just say it was pretty much non-stop unbearable cuteness all day