All "Frozen," All the Time

We are, shall we say, a tad obsessed at the moment. 

With "Frozen."

Have you seen it yet? The big kids and I went last weekend. I broke the news that we'd be going around last Thursday and anticipation began mounting immediately. 

Last Sunday morning, around 7:00 a.m. Ellie started asking to watch [YouTube] videos of all the songs from the movie. I'm not sure two people have been more excited to see a movie, ever. Ellie also got dressed (at 6:30 on a Sunday) without being asked to (unprecedented) and went to bed the night before, exclaiming "Tomorrow is the day I get to see Frozen!

See? A little excited.

What can I say? The movie has it all. First of all, it's absolutely stunning visually. It's warm (which might be surprising, given the, ahem, title), it's funny, it's sweet, it's sad and it's poignant. Without giving away anything, there was also a nice and refreshing twist on the whole "Find a prince and everything will be Fine" which I think we can all agree we are finished with.

And did I mention the incredible music? We started downloading songs from the soundtrack in the parking lot of the theater after the movie was over. Wait, I lied. I bought the "theme" the day before and the big kids and I listened to it in the car on the way to getting haircuts on Saturday afternoon (to get them in the mood for the movie because, clearly that was needed). Ha.

Ellie asks to listen to the soundtrack in the car on the way to school. Before I've put the key in the ignition. 

She calls upstairs while I'm getting dressed in the morning to "bring my phone downstairs" so she can listen to "Frozen."

And perhaps one of my favorite moments  came last night when she sang herself to sleep. With songs from "Frozen." I kid you not. 

Ellie got a little set of figures of characters from the movie for Hanukkah and that was a huge hit--such a huge hit that Leo burst into tears when he didn't get the same set. Oops. (When am I going to learn that I should always just buy two of everything--and soon enough, I guess, four). Oy.

Last night Ellie and Leo spent their post-dinner/bath time sketching each of the characters from the movie. Before that, Ellie built a little "stage" for them from a small discarded box. And when I was upstairs putting the twins to bed, Leo and Ellie took it upon themselves to stand on chairs and get the tin foil from the top shelf above the refrigerator (you know, tin foil = ice= "Frozen"). The kitchen table looked like a craft room had exploded (scissors, tape, construction paper) and in the background, the music from the soundtrack blared: 

"Let it go, let it go…Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway."

This is the best song. I mean. Idina Menzel? Are you kidding me? I pretty much have it on repeat. And I'm using it to further my brainwashing of Ellie into full-blown Broadway show tune nerdom: I told her she's one of the witches from "Wicked" (which Ellie is very interested in after seeing a poster for it when we were in the city and hearing one of the songs from the show on the "Glee" soundtrack).

But on to the art. I think the Disney animators would be proud, don't you?

Olaf, the snowman.

Olaf, the sun loving snow man, By Leo.

By Ellie.

Sven, the reindeer.

Sven, by Leo. 

When we first started listening to the music, Lucy, in her usual, characteristically oppositional manner screamed "NO FROZEN!"

But we won her over soon enough. The music is irresistible, even to an opinionated two-year-old. Now we are all dancing around to "Fixer Upper" and Lucy is demanding that I "Dip her."

It's not that often that the kids and I are "into" the same things, but you know, DISNEY. They know how to do it (there's a reason plenty of adults without children visit the Disney theme parks). I am, however,  pretty sure I'm one of the few adults rocking out to the "Frozen" soundtrack during their morning commute (true story). Yup, I'm a proud and self-proclaimed fruit ball, what can I say. 

And this morning, on my way to work I may have stopped at the Disney store on the way to my office to look at the "Frozen" paraphernalia again (Hanukkah is over and Christmas is coming!). I may have had my headphones on and switched them off, only to realize that the Frozen soundtrack was also playing in the store. Pfew! I didn't have to miss a moment of "Frozen." 

We're having fun. And I'm not sure who's enjoying all this more, the kids, or me. 

Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust and the Poolside Mai Tais Were Pretty Great Too

In spite of how it looks here, we did not plan on color coordinating our outfits with Tigger and Pooh.

When Erin announced, right after the holidays that she wanted us to go to Disneyworld, my reaction was simple.

Are you crazy?

But somehow, through her magical and mysterious ways, I was convinced. And I admit. I was skeptical. Two little kids, one with a predeliction for wandering off? Twin babies? On an airplane to Florida and all of us, loose in a giant theme park? How were we going to pull this off?

And when I told people we were going to Disneyworld? All of us? Everyone had the same reaction.

Are you crazy?

Well. We have four kids. Clearly we are crazy.

But we did it. We went to Disneyworld.

And I'll tell you right now. I'm a believer. I get it. The Disney magic? I bought into it all.

I don't even know where to begin. I've spent the last seventy two hours gazing at pictures, still on a vacation buzz. Dreams do come true.

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge which was perfect for us, lovers of the pacific northwest. And the fact that we could get to the Magic Kingdom via boat in less than thirty minutes (including wait time for said boat) wasn't bad either.

I'll preface all of this by saying our expectations for this trip were low. We didn't want to try to plan too much or try to do too much. I told Erin I would be ecstatic if we all just got home safely (i.e. no lost children at the Magic Kingdom). What can I say? I'm a worrier. We weren't even sure if the kids could handle two days at the Magic Kingdom and we went back and forth over whether we should try to do another park too (Epcot? Universal Orlando? Sea World?).

We thought it best to go with the flow and the flow ended up being, two days at the Magic Kingdom with a day of rest in between (that's where the fabulous poolside mai tais came in).

One day, a few weeks before we left for the trip when I was on the phone with someone at Disneyworld for the ninety seventh time (OK I lied, I am a little bit of a planner), the Disney cast member was checking on something for me. "Hakuna Matata," she said. I paused for a moment, confused. Then I realized, she was quoting "The Lion King." Of course she was. No worries. Of course! And that became our mantra for the trip. Whenever Erin and I sensed the other was getting stressed out or bunchy, it was "Hakuna Matata!" And I'm not embarrassed to say that it worked.

Our first day at the Magic Kingdom we had one goal. Tinkerbell. For Ellie.

Ellie was nervous. Tinkerbell has surpassed Princesses for Ellie (thank goodness--there is something way less annoying and almost empowering about the fairies--OK that's probably going a little far but you know what I mean--but I do like that Tink is a "Can Do" kind of gal). I don't think Ellie could quite believe she was going to actually meet Tinkerbell.

Not the world's best picture, but I had to include it. Tink gave Leo and Ellie fairy dust and here they are showing it off. In the end, Ellie was disappointed that she hadn't been able to fly with Tinkerbell.

For Leo, the goals were Woody and Buzz.

Check (with bonus Jessie).

And Check again.

Ride-wise, two of the biggest hits were Peter Pan's Flightand It's a Small World (which will always remain close to my heart since I loved it as a child and it was the only ride that all of us (even the babies!) were able to ride together). Ellie kept asking why the dolls weren't waving back at her. Sometimes I really do forget that she's four.

Leo also loved the Tomorrowland Speedway.

Here he's showing off his "license."

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin was another favorite.

The Teacups (with Grandma Jerry, to boot!) were also memorable.


And me? Fruitball that I am, lover of "Glee" (the old Glee, not so much this season) and Broadway musicals, I LOVED the "Celebrate a Dream" parade (that's us, above, waiting for it to start).

I loved it SO much, I forced everyone to watch the parade twice (not in the same day, don't worry). Just watch that snippet and see the hug Leo received and just try not to feel like the world is a wonderful place. Or at the very least, that Disneyworld is a wonderful place.

The kids loved the parade too. What's not to love? It was the most perfect, awesome Disney mash-up. All the characters! All the princesses! Together! Coupled with a catchy little song that is still in my brain five days later!

You just don't get smiles bigger than that, anywhere.

Those babies were there too.


Harry, aka Shameless, who tries to steal everything and anything from Lucy, even her bottle, when she's sleeping. Seriously Harry, how low can you go?

I like to call this one "Mission Accomplished." Finally napping.

Trying to find the quickest way to Splash Mountain. Shockingly enough the babies were not much help.

Back at the hotel we swam (did I mention Ellie can officially swim?). I mean, she's been taking lessons but I hadn't really seen her in action.

Side note about the pool: I have never felt so safe at a pool with kids. At one point I asked the lifeguard a question and he said he could not turn to look at me because he had to keep his eyes on the pool at all times. Another time Leo wouldn't leave the pool when both Erin and I had to get out with the babies who both got cold and tired of swimming at the same time. The lifeguard told me not to worry, that Leo was fine, that "no one was going to drown."

I enjoyed the break from cooking and cleaning up the kitchen approximately seventy-nine times a day. It was also heavenly to come back to a clean hotel room every night. Daily housekeeping? I could get used to that.

Wash cloths and hand towels on the bed at our hotel. No detail is too small for Disney.

This trip did wonders for my confidence as the mother of four (cough, cough I am still not used to saying that). And as a family of six (again I am coughing). For a while I was terrified that Life As We Knew It was over. That we'd never do fun stuff again (well, I knew we'd do it again, I just thought it would be a long while). I'm not going to say it was easy or that there weren't a few moments of What Were We Thinking? But I have to say those moments were fewer and farther between than I expected.

We concluded our first day at the Magic Kingdom with the fabulous "Wishes" fireworks spectacular. It has it all, wonderfully cheesy Disney music with a montage of Disney quotes about wishes ("I wish I could be part of that world" (Little Mermaid); "I wish I could go to the ball," (Cinderella); "I wish we'd never have to grow up" (Peter Pan).

I never realized the thread that ties so many (all?) of the Disney movies together: wishes.

Star bright, star light, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish, I wish tonight, we make a wish as dreamers do and all our wishes will come true.

We didn't lose any children. We didn't go crazy (well, any crazier than we already are). We drank mai tais (yes I'm still thinking about those mai tais) and juice boxes poolside, hugged fairies and Tigger and Pooh (and many, many more). At least one baby slept through the night in the hotel room.

Some wishes do come true.

Jolly, Procrastinating

This picture has nothing to do with this post except that I wanted to share the news that I've decided Harry is "Jolly." Look at him, all smiley and round. He got so excited about something he just flapped his little arms so hard that he simply tipped over. Yup, jolly. Also, he's in love with the dog. Sometimes I will look over at him and he's gazing at her and just giggling. He thinks she's hilariously entertaining (that's who he's grinning at as I caught him, mid-fall, except Ansel Adams here cut the dog out of the photo).

***

Speaking of jolly, we leave for Disney World in eleven days. Have I started packing? No. Have I even looked in the storage closet to refresh my memory as to what kind of luggage we have to choose from and considered what the options are now that four have become six?

That would be a negative.

Denial. Procrastination.

I loathe packing.

I realize this is a giant first world problem. I mean, whoa is me, I'm going to Disney World (though I'm sure there are some out there who are pitying me). But still. Packing for six (because let's be honest here). Scary stuff. I don't even know where to begin. By the way, if anyone has any You absolutely must bring this or do this Disney World related wisdom you'd like to bestow on me, I'm all ears.

I'm not sure what I'm more excited about: seeing the wonder on the face of my children as they lay eyes on the Place Where Dreams Come True (cough, cough) or getting a break from loading and unloading the dishwasher approximately twelve times a day (seriously I sometimes feel like that's what I spend the majority of my day doing).

Who's Going to Live Here When We Don't? and Other Profound Questions

The other day, Ellie was standing rightnexttome (as she is apt to do) as I changed Lucy's diaper in the babies' room. Ellie was flitting about as she is also apt to do. Rocking in the rocker, skipping around the room. That girl does not stop.

"Mommy, who's going to live in this room when the babies don't?" Ellie asked.

I reached for a new outfit for Lu. She's petite but we don't call her "Toot-in-Pants" for nothing. That girl can make a mess.

"Well, when the babies get older, I think you and Lucy will share this room." The nursery used to be Ellie's room and I was thinking that's what she was getting at, that she wanted her old room back.

"No, but what happens after that?" Ellie persisted. "Who's gonna be in that room after that?"

"Well, at some point, you'll get bigger and grow up and live with your family."

I mean, it's true, right?

Well. This was not the thing to say to a four and a half year old. Because as soon as I said it, Ellie's lip began to quiver and the tears came.

"But I don't want to live anywhere else! I always want to live with you guys!"

Honestly, I often forget she is four. That I need to be careful what I say. I went on to assure her that she could live with us for as long as she wanted. Forever and ever, if she wanted. And then she gave me a hug. So I guess we're good now.

In other news, it's the end of January and I'm happy to report our first snow fall.

Aside from an early morning trek to Disney on Ice (that was almost cancelled due to said snow--oh the irony!) we've had a cozy weekend.

Leo loves to read to the babies (see above). Speaking of Leo, his speech is coming along. He has a few new phrases including one that allows him to argue with me even more effectively (when met with me denying him something, most likely his beloved cheese crackers (which I'm constantly running out of): "Yeah you do Mommy!" He's also added "I love (fill-in-the-blank)" but it's usually a food item (grapes, pizza, cake). He also often hugs whatever he's referring to. Yes, you can hug grapes. Did you know? But he's also started to say, on his own accord, "I love you Mommy/Mama/LucyandHarry" (yes that's one word in Leo's world). And, well, speech delays and all, that's the kind of sentence that is truly worth waiting for.


Intermission.

Ellie danced in her seat throughout the entire show but when the performance was over, she announced she did not have a good time because "there weren't any princesses and Tinkerbelle didn't say hi to her."

Can you hear my eye balls rolling around? All I can say is, she'd adjust her criticism a bit when we take her to DISNEYWORLD in March (more on that, I promise).

The babies are good. Harry has his seventeenth cold. Poor dude. Every time I think I am going to let him CIO in the middle of the night, he gets sick and I just don't have the heart to let a sick(ish) baby cry. But man, I am tiiiiiiiired. I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It's a good thing they're cute.