Happy Halloween!

***Korea Pictures are coming, I promise! We're dealing with the worst case imaginable of jet lag around here, so unless it's a task necessary to our day, it's probably not happening right now. The kids have been waking up for the day about 1 am! So, that leaves the Mommy and Daddy of the house VERY, VERY tired...and frustrated! When life resumes to even close to normal, I promise a big Korea blog update!***


Despite our complete lack of sleep and as a result energy, we just HAD to trick-or-treat tonight! We met up at Grandma and Grandpa's house so Graham, Amelia, Miles, and Grace could enjoy Halloween together. We're hoping that all the cool, fresh air and running around collecting candy will result in a bit more sleep tonight...cross your fingers!

The Gang! Spider Man, Darth Vader, Baby Elephant, and Butterfly Princess

Butterfly Princess sporting a cute new haircut under that hood

Darth Vader

Darth Vader (with a very serious face) and Grandma

Grandpa and his Butterfly Princess

Packing...

We're less than 72 hours away from our Korean adventure so we're in full packing and organizing mode around here! Our packing lists are made and I think after one more trip to Target for those last minute items, we'll be good to go. The kids are fully aware that we have a trip coming up, they just have no concept that getting to Korea is going to be more than 20 hours (YIKES!) of travel from door to door. I must be talking an awful lot about packing because I stumbled upon a pile of Amelia's "stuff" and when I asked her to put it away, she said "I packed for Korea all by myself. Now you're all done packing!"

A pair of pink princess high heels, "Baby" without any pants, a bottle for "Baby", and a single pair of Snow White underwear...yep, I'd say Amelia is packed and ready for a week in Korea!

Fall Perfection

We've had the most wonderful fall this year. I actually don't remember one quite like it...I'm talking sunny weather in the 80's for the past several weeks! It's been heaven to carry on with our normal "summer" activities but do it surrounded with red and orange covered trees. I think the knowledge that snow isn't too far off in our future make us appreciate this all the more.

My absolute favorite place in the fall is St. Olaf College, so that's where we headed today! The kids get excited when they hear we're going to visit "their college". I don't know what it is about that campus and the small town of Northfield, but it's magic. I love that Graham and Amelia know their way around the school and enjoy running outside going from building to building checking everything out. Daddy Jeff and I figure that by the time they're ready for college, St. Olaf will already feel like their second home! :)

Graham LOVES to play in the leaves. Amelia...not so much. The leaves are "too dirty"!

The obligatory chair shot. Amelia chose her accessories today and she was beyond proud to strut around campus with her pink ruffled purse!

Mr. Graham and his chair picture

St. Olaf

FOUR Years!

It's been four years since we became known as Mama and Daddy around the house. It's been four years since I got to rock my baby for the first time. It's been four years since we dealt with our first explosive diapers and baby food being splattered across the kitchen floor. It's been four years since I realized I would do anything, literally anything, for this little guy of ours. It's been four years since Jeff and I locked eyes over our sleeping son and realized in an instant that our lives would never be the same, life had changed for the better! Four years ago today, we flew with a very brave 8 month old Graham from Seoul to Minneapolis, and what an amazing four years it has been!

Four years ago, I could have never imagined the reality of celebrating Graham's 4th 'Gotcha Day'. Not only are we celebrating with Graham, but his little sidekick Amelia is now with us too, to get in on the fun. We all started our day with sprinkle donuts (the coolest treat ever, according to the Olson kids) and juice. Graham was also more than thrilled with the Super Hero balloon that decorated his chair. Tonight, we'll be seeing the Lion King in 3D and Daddy Jeff will be sneaking Happy Meals into the theater (he's cool like that) just for the occasion. We'll end our night with Graham's dessert of choice-cherry pie. We were more than happy to let Graham make all the choices for the day and thankfully, we're easily able to grant his little 4 year old wishes.

Happy 4th 'Gotcha Day', Graham! We love you forever, and ever, and ever!

First Day of School!

With very mixed feelings on my part, both of the kids started school this morning! It was beyond strange to drop them both off and drive away with two empty car seats. I'm sure I will quickly get used to my two quiet mornings each week but until then, the quiet is a reminder of just how quickly time is passing and just how big the kids are getting!

Amelia was so excited for school! She didn't show even a bit of nervousness, it was pure excitement for our girl! Last year, she was with me when we would do the preschool drop-off/pick-up routine for Graham. Each time we dropped Graham off, she wanted to stay, and each time we picked Graham up, she wanted to stay. Our entire family fell in love with the teacher Graham had last year and we couldn't be happier that Amelia is in her class this year. Amelia proudly wore her backpack this morning and confidently marched down the hall to her classroom. As soon as she saw her teacher, she broke into a sprint and ran straight into her arms for a hug. When I picked Amelia up, she was all smiles and was very excited to report that "...even preschool has pink crayons!" I am confident that Miss Amelia is going to have a great year at school!


Graham has also been extremely excited for school. If he had his way though, I'm pretty sure he would have bypassed this last year of preschool and jumped on the school bus headed straight for kindergarten. In the past few months, Graham has had a time of amazing growth both physically and emotionally. His entire attitude and outlook seems to have changed overnight. All of a sudden "cool" is his adjective of choice and anything Star Wars is EXTREMELY cool! Very rarely does Graham leave the house without a baseball cap. But, it has to be worn backwards and don't try to tell him otherwise! It's amazing to me that next year at this time my Star Wars loving boy with be a Kindergarten student. Until then though, I'm going to savor each and every day that I get to just hang out with both of my kids at home because that yellow school bus will be pulling up for Graham before I know it...

And completely unrelated to the first day of school, was the entertainment that a plain box provided the kids this afternoon. Who would have thought that a box, would keep them happily playing while I unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned up from lunch, and folded a load of laundry? To most people, that might not sound like a long time, but in the Mommy world, to get all that done uninterrupted is unheard of....VICTORY!

We're Back!

We're back and we had a fantastic time hanging with Mickey and crew in the tropical sun! I wondered how Graham and Amelia would do on the ship-would it be too overstimulating, would they sleep ok, would they become sick from the slight motion of the boat, and my list went on from there. I'm pleased to say though, that they did a great job! As long as they snuck in a nap before dinner, life was good! They slept great every night, took afternoon naps, and were generally happy campers the entire time!

Don't get me wrong, they're still toddlers....my "favorite" toddler memory of Graham on the trip is of him being so exhausted on a walk back to the ship that he sat down in the street and refused to move. When I encouraged him to keep going, he grabbed onto my leg like a koala bear and demanded that I continue walking. So, I limped down the road with a 4 year old hanging off my leg only to turn around and see my family laughing at me. Thankfully, Grandpa came to the rescue and Graham finally got what he wanted...to be carried. Amelia was actually pretty easy going the entire time. She thoroughly enjoyed choosing her food off the menu each day and each morning chose a mickey mouse pancake and for every other meal (I'm not joking...every.single.meal) she chose mac and cheese. What can I say, when my girl finds something she likes, she sticks with it!

Being on a Disney ship was a good experience for families with small children. If you don't have kids, I'm not sure why you'd want to be on the boat. We sailed around with 1,100 children on board so there were kids EVERYWHERE and quiet was hard to find. After hanging out with us for a week on a ship filled with kids, I'm surprised my parents haven't gone into hiding!

I've included a TON of pictures....enjoy!

Miles, Graham and Amelia on the main deck of the ship at the "Sail Away Party". The Disney characters sang and danced as we left port and headed out to sea.

Miles with Uncle Peter, Amelia, and Graham with Daddy Jeff at the party. The clear tube in the background is an adult water slide that ran the length of the ship more than 13 stories above the ocean . It was amazing!

Amelia loves to play in the waves! She'd get pushed off her tube, swallow water, and have her face pushed into the sand but she'd get right back up and do it all over again!

Playing

Very proud of the hole

Hanging out on our balcony with Grandpa before dinner

Graham trying out pirate gear in one of the shops. Check out his serious pirate expression!

Amelia and Pluto

Graham and Daddy on a catamaran ride out to an small island

Pep-talk on the slide

Amelia debating what to do...

On the catamaran ride back to the ship. Two minutes after I snapped this photo, Amelia began to hang her head out the window. We thought she was watching the water but she actually fell asleep standing up with her head hanging down! Clearly, she needed a nap!

All dressed up with "spikey hair just like Daddy!"

Daddy and his girl

We had the same serving staff for our meals each night and I can't say enough good things about them! They weren't afraid of tired toddlers and got right in to help how ever and when ever they could. Graham, Amelia, and especially Miles LOVED this particular server. As a joke, he started feeding Graham his ice cream one night and before we knew it, he fed Graham the entire dish! We are certainly going to miss her good friend 'Pla' from Thailand at our family meals!

We had lots of laughs!

I could eat these two up!

Graham and Amelia loved to stand in the giant port holes that lined the hallways

Happy Girl!

Playing with Daddy

Amelia and I have many beach vacations in our future...I just know it. As happy as Amelia is to play in the waves, she's equally happy to just sit in the water and relax. I think she would have stayed on my lap all day like this had I let her!

Hard at work!

All dressed up for Pirate Night! Too bad Daddy Jeff was taking the picture because he was a pretty good looking pirate complete with wig and earring!

My Pirates with Minnie

Pirate Graham relaxing in the port hole while the sun was setting

Amelia's favorite princess has always been Ariel. She was absolutely beside herself to have the opportunity to meet her. They had a conversation about pancakes....it was so cute! Amelia did ask me if she could live with Ariel and when I told her no, that Ariel is a mermaid, Amelia's response was "Well, I can swim!".

Amelia's second favorite princess is Snow White. Again, she's in awe here!

The Disney ships are known for having fantastic kids camps that parents can use anytime they want. Finally, on the last day, we decided to drop the kids off for an hour so we could sit by the pool. When we went to pick them up, this is what we found...Graham was dressed as Buzz Lightyear and the kids were hanging out with green Army guys from Toy Story. Both kids looked slightly annoyed to see us and wondered why they had to leave. So, a reminder to myself, or to anyone else who might take such a cruise, is to use the kids camps!!

There was a water slide for children that Graham was JUST tall enough to ride on. He'd been wanting to try it for days but then he'd change his mind at the last minute. I'd walk him to the top, he'd sit down, change his mind, and we'd walk back down the stairs only for him to see the kids coming down with smiles on their faces. Then we'd start the entire process over again. I KNEW that if he'd go down he'd love it so I bribed him! :) I knew he wanted a certain toy in the store and I told him he could have it if he was brave on the slide. Sure enough, he made himself go down and of course he loved it and I lost track of how many times he went down that afternoon. Here he is on his first trip down the slide. Daddy Jeff was prepared with the camera and I'm cheering him on!

Graham eating escargot! While Amelia eats the same exact comfort food at every meal, Graham will try anything we give him!

Our Crew

Pre-Cruise Primping

I got a pedicure last night and as I was leaving the house, Amelia told me she wanted nail polish too. As a special pre-cruise treat, I took her along, and boy was she THRILLED! Of course she chose hot pink polish for her tiny fingers and toes and was more than pleased that she got to sit in a pink chair while I had to sit in a brown one. I have never seen Amelia sit so still for so long. The fear of smudging her polish kept her absolutely frozen. Now that our toes are taken care of, I'd say it's time to party with our Disney friends!