Disneyland 2010

BEWARE: LOTS OF PICTURES AHEAD!

In May we were able to take the kids to Disneyland for a week. We kept it a secret until we got to the hotel, we just kept telling the kids were running errands. I can't believe Dan and I kept a secret that long, we're the type of people that have a hard time keeping anything a secret! We were pretty proud of ourselves but now wish we would have just told the kids when we got to the airport to fly to California. Peyton had multiple breakdowns because he just wanted to play with his friends and was very unsure of the whole thing (what can I say, he's like me...not OK with not knowing the future). I think we may have gotten a better reaction had we told them earlier. We had a great time despite the rough start.

Pictures from the airport and airplane.

Video of us breaking the news.

This pictures was just after we told the kids what our "errands" were, they were fighting over who stood where in the picture.

We decided to stay at a Disney hotel Paradise Pier, It was nice and close to the parks. The weather could have been a little warmer for swimming, but it was nice that we weren't roasting at the parks.

Aunt Kathy met us there and spent the whole time at Disneyland with us. It was so great to see her! I really can't believe it but I don't have any pictures of her with Bailey! That just shows how slowly Bailey takes to warm up to people.

The kids loved the parades! We watched the Celebrate parade 3 times while we were there!

Here are some of Bailey's favorite characters, besides the Disney Princesses of course.

And some pictures of Peyton with his favorites.

More characters...

Some of our favorite rides...

And more silly pictures of the family...

Bailey LOVED meeting all the princesses. Upon meeting each of them she would cover her mouth and act shy, with most of them she asked to see their shoes. She was very unimpressed with Mulan's shoes because they were not very dainty. One of the mornings we were there we went to breakfast at Ariel's Grotto which was so fun and nice because Bailey was able to meet all of the princesses during our Disneyland vacation.

Most of the princesses were very friendly and talkative with Bailey. I love this one of Tiana telling Bailey a story.

Peyton was able to do the Jedi Training Academy. We were pretty nervous that he would get scared and start crying when Darth Vader came up out of the stage (he's just a little tender, gets that from his Dad). He did really well though. The show was different from the last time we saw it, now they have added Darth Maul, who looked scarier then ever! When the Darth's came up out of the stage Peyton got a look of concern on his face and took off running toward us! Just as he was bolting across the floor toward us a Jedi Master clothes lined him and pulled him back to where the other trainees were. After that Peyton seemed OK, just very concerned (no crying at all!) and went on to fight Darth Maul, it was so awesome! I think he was just thinking what the BLEEP, this doesn't look good I better get outta here (see beginning of the video below)!!

Dan being silly in Toon Town

Baby Animal Days 2010...

Every year at Easter time we love to go up to Wellsville for the Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center. We all love to see the baby animals and over the years the festivities have grown.
This year Peyton tried the mutton bustin'! I was so nervous for him, I think I told him at least 10 times "grab on tight and squeeze the wool as tight as you can, oh and wrap your legs around his belly!" He just looked at me like, "yeah, yeah I know Mom, just chill out, I got this". Well, he didn't stay on for very long, I think he thought he knew what was going to happen but then when the sheep took off he got a little freaked out. I told him he'll have to practice for next year by riding bucking Dad.

Bailey rode the pony for the first time and loved it!

Of course the blow up slides are always a hit, at least with Peyton. Bailey usually goes down once then decides she's done.

They both loved holding the ducks and all was well until Bailey decided she was finished and tossed the little thing! After we reprimanded her she swore it had scratched her hand and that's why she jumped, not sure if that really happened but no one was actually injured so all is well.

Spring Soccer

Peyton started soccer a few weeks ago. Already he is doing much better then he did in the fall and has spent the majority of both games on his feet! Hopefully his interest will last. He's a little discouraged because he hasn't gotten a goal yet, but last game he had at least 3 assists. We have tried to explain to him that assists are pretty much as good as a goal but he doesn't seem to believe us :0).

Christmas 2009...

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas this year. I started my last semester of nursing school last Monday so things have been quite busy around the Hoover house. We had a great Christmas this year, it was nice to spend some much needed time with the family.
The kids were able to participate in their daycare Christmas program this year. Bailey's class sang Jingle Bells and Peyton's class did the nativity. Bailey was so funny, when her class went up she was singing right along until she suddenly noticed her Meemaw in the audience and yelled "Hi Meemaw!" We were cracking up.

Peyton's part didn't go too well for him. He had been working on his part as one of the three wise men for weeks. He was supposed to say "I brought Muir" but when his teacher got the kids up there she accidentally told one of P's class mates to say his part and told him to say "I brought Gold"! He said it but immediately started crying after because he was so upset and he wanted to bring Muir! Poor guy. His teacher felt so bad and apologized endlessly saying she forgot who was supposed to bring what because she gets bad stage fright. Hopefully it goes better for both of them next year. **I wont post P's video because it's almost 5 minutes long


Santa and Mr. Claus came to visit following the program so the kids were able to remind him of their Christmas requests. Of course Bailey did so from a distance!

We made a trip to Temple Square to see the lights this year. I don't think we've been since Peyton was a baby. The kids had a great time, despite the nippy weather, and were amazed at the Christus, the temple and the beauty of the lights

Christmas morning was much different this year. The kids actually knew what was going on and appreciated it much more! It was fun to see and share in their excitement as Christmas is my most favorite time of year (Christmas...NOT winter!). We always give the kids PJ's on Christmas Eve, a tradition that my family had growing up. They both loved their new jammies. Here are some pictures from the day.

Excuse the crazy morning hair!

Here are some other random pictures that I've taken since the last post and also a video depicting Bailey's obsession with the new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. A portion of most every day is spend dancing around singing over and over "people gonna come from everywhere cause I'm almost there".

Jumping off the couch to grab the balloon string

LSU Bowl game (Dang you LSU, Win next time!!)

In Our Hearts...

Every year on December 10 Dan's Mom puts a memoriam in the news paper. Her simple gesture means so much to us. I just wanted to post the one for this year as the poem she chose is absolutely perfect at describing my feelings.
IN MEMORIAM

Jackson Daniel Hoover
Aug. 24, 2003 – Dec. 10, 2003

In Our Hearts
We thought of you with love today
But that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday
And days before that too.
We think of you in silence.
We often speak your name.
Now all we have is memories
And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake
With which we'll never part.
God has you in his keeping.
We have you in our heart..
Love, Mom, Dad, Peyton, Bailey and Meemaw

Fall Update...

We haven't been doing a whole lot lately but I thought I'd post some random picks of what little we have been doing.

I've been working a little more, and of course still going to school. This semester has been a little better (less time consuming) and I feel more like a "real" nurse now that I am able to do IV stuff. For clinicals I was in the GI lab the other day and was able to start a handful of IV's. I was so nervous at first but the more I did the better I felt about it. This semester we also get to do a lot more specialty rotations like the ER, ICU, Pediatrics (which we did last year also), and we get to go around with the wound team for a day (that should be interesting). Things are really starting to come together for me as far as a whole nursing prospective, I think it will just take a little experience to get me really feeling ready.

Peyton has been playing soccer still and we are all having a lot of fun with that. He has made at least one goal each game. Sometimes the goal is sort of a fluke but it's a goal none the less, so he's stoked about that! He spends a lot of time on the ground during the game, as do all the kids. It's pretty funny how they all trip over each other, I'm so glad he is playing AYSO so there are only 3 kids per team on the field at a time, otherwise he would probably be on the ground a whole lot more!

We have been trying to get P excited about riding his bike without training wheels for a while now but he just wasn't into it. The biggest problem was that he was too big for his bike! Luckily Lindsey's little guy Wyatt had an old bike he was no longer using that they generously donated to P. After a little fixing up it's good as new. I put P's old training wheels on it (which were of course way too small), there was about 2 inches under each training wheel! We started on Friday and by Monday (yesterday) he was a pro!! He's just a little wobbly and unsure but that'll just take time. I'm so proud that he stuck too it because he really didn't want to do it.

The other day there was a big thunderstorm. Peyton and Bailey were having so much fun. They would stand at the sliding glass door until the lightning flashed then run away screaming as loud as they could. Bailey was so silly about the lighting, she was so cute we just had to get a little clip of her explaining it...

Last night we went to a fund raiser put on by a friend of mine who owns the Punkinaze corn maze in West Haven. They had lots of yummy food, huge slides for the kids to play on and a 7 acre corn maze. Peyton LOVED the slides (Bailey, not so much) we should have let P go down the slides all night instead of getting lost for 2 hours + in the freaking corn maze! I really didn't think it would be too bad when we went in, but about 45 minutes into it Peyton started getting concerned. His first little melt down consisted of him ranting (while bawling) about how he was never going to be able to ride his bike again, never going to see his friends and we were going to be in there FOREVER! Over the next hour and a half he had at least 2 more freak outs where he ranted about how he HATES corn fields AND CORN and we were never going to see our home again! At one point he asked if I had my cell phone and if I could call and have a plane or a helicopter come get us outta there, or at least a bulldozer to knock over all the corn! Dan and I were busting up, I almost took out the camera and recorded him going off but then I thought I should be a little more sensitive to his extreme concern. Toward the end Dan and I were actually getting kinda worried that we might not get outta there! Needless to say...we wont be doing that again anytime soon!