Evan's Birthday Surprise

Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

He was a dancing machine, not sure what this move is. But the face is priceless

Celebration Parade

Dancing with an Incredible

Birthday Boy with his special pin

The race car ride

As you will see over the next coming weeks posts, I love birthdays. I love to celebrate them, especially my only child's birthday. For the last few months, we've been planning the trip we took this past weekend. We took Evan to stay at the Contemporary Hotel at Disney World. Yes, we live about 5 minutes maximum from the hotel. I knew that it would be so fun to take him to the parks all day and then spend the night at the hotel. Plus, the hotel has a heated pool and I knew he would have a blast. I was right. My little man was in heaven with his birthday surprise.

We stared the day off by parking at the Contemporary and taking the monorail into the Magic Kingdom. We met our friends Catherine, Brian, Wilson, Ellie, Jennifer, Brantley, Bowen & Caroline at the park. We rode all of his favorites-Peter Pan, the race cars, the Goofy roller coaster and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also got to see the Celebrate Parade, which is really fun. After that, we went back to the hotel to "take a nap". HA!! He was so excited that at "naptime" he just sprinted back and forth in our room. We decided to take him to the pool instead. They had a giant slide that he was beyond thrilled that he was big enough to go down by himself. After our "rest", the boys all played in the arcade while the girls relaxed outside of the arcade. Then, we headed out to Hollywood Studios for dinner and the Osborne Family Lights Spectacular.

Shooting down the slide

What happens at 5pm when you play at the pool instead of nap

Hollywood Studios

Catching "snow"

Osbourne Family Lights

After that we headed back to our room and watched Polar Express on TV. We all slept like rocks that night. I don't know how families take week long trips to Disney, just that day was exhausting.

Evan's School Birthday Party

Silly birthday boy

His table-Ryan, Bowen, Katya, Anna Kate, his empty chair, Kaila

Happy Birthday to YOU!!

Putting the candles on his cake

On Thursday they celebrated the December birthdays in Evan's preschool class. Lucky him, he's the only December birthday, so he got the party to himself. It was so fun to be a "spy" in his classroom and see how he and his friends all behave in the class and what their interactions are like. For the birthday, Mrs. Jones had Evan come up to the front of the class and put 3 candles on the cake while she recited a poem about him turning 3. Then they all sang Happy Birthday to him. After that, the kids and teachers enjoyed some cupcakes! All the kids in his class drew him a picture and the teachers made him a birthday book with all of them. As you can see, he also got to wear a birthday crown, which he has been sporting around here ever since. I am a big believer in celebrating a birthday week or even month, glad he is too!

Dinner with Friends

Keith & Ana, Paul & Abby, Joe & me, Dennis & Chris, Brian & Catherine, Brantley & Jennifer

A rare picture of just the two of us

We've been so fortunate to make such great friends since moving to Orlando. Last Saturday night we all went out to dinner at the Gaylord Palms to celebrate Christmas. It was really nice to spend time with each other without the kids! We had a great time and had a very funny gift exchange. Let's just say the kiddos will never see what the parents gave each other.

Yeah Santa!!

Evan's 1st letter to Santa

I cannot believe he is hugging Santa, I never thought this day would come!

Wonder what secret Santa is telling him? Hopefully to be a good boy!

I'm thinking of every toy I've ever seen because that's what I want this year!

You are so funny Santa!

What a wonderful day yesterday was! We took Evan to see Santa Claus at the mall and not only was he was excited about it, he did not cry, not even come close to shedding a tear. That is a HUGE accomplishment in our house. As he was not happy to see Santa when he was 1 or 2, but almost 3 must be the magic age. That and totally understanding that Santa is bringing him presents soon. We had Evan write a letter to Santa and he brought it with him to give to Santa. Santa read the letter back to Evan and he just seemed to have the best time! We definitely got some cute shots of him. We got suckered into the CD package made just for parents who are elated that their child is happy to see Santa Claus!!

Trimming the Tree

Looking good with the finished tree

It's the most wonderful time of the year.........

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving Evan and I put on some Christmas music and decorated the Christmas tree. He was really into it and loved looking at all the ornaments. Of course he wanted to put them all at the bottom of the tree all in one location. So, I had to move things around a little once he went down for his nap. I love that he is into Christmas this year and really seems to get it. This is my favorite time of the year (and Joe's) and it seems like Evan is right there with us.

Getting together with old friends

Here they are as babies-Natalie, Maki & Evan

Kieran, Natalie, Cassia, Maki, Griffin, Evan & Kaylina

We got to see our friends from our old play group while we were in Maryland. It was so nice to catch up and see all the kids as well. I wish we had more time to spend with them, but our trip was crammed with stuff going on. Hopefully next time we go up there we'll have more down time. Some of these kids were friends since they were 3 months old, look at them now! All 3 years old now with Evan almost there! Plus now all the little siblings.

The Garr Girls

The future Mr. & Mrs. Evan Neville

Charlotte

Mackenzie

What can I say? He loves to play pretend and dress up and those are the kind of dress up clothes you find in a girls only house :)

While we were up north, Evan & I got to spend a few days with Kelly, Avery, Mackenzie and Charlotte. The Joes made brief appearances as well. We had such a good time with them, even though they were the busiest days ever. Who would have thought watching after 4 kids under the age of 3 would be a lot of work? I don't know how Kelly does it!! It's A LOT of work with all those kids. She makes it look easy though, it's very impressive. The twins are adorable and so big since I last saw them in the NICU. It's crazy how exactly alike they look. They are really good babies too, thank goodness for Kelly & Joe! Little Avery is growing up and has such a cute personality. She and Evan got along great and we were sad to say goodbye to them.