Best of 2011 In Pictures

So I am completely aware of the fact that I am doing a "Best of 2011" post in the year 2016.  I happened to run across my "Best of 2012 In Pictures" post and once I did, I realized that I only did two years of these posts (2012 and 2009).  So I'm going to spend the next couple of days trying to fill in the years so that I can have them all.  So for now, here's the best of 2011:

Nothing major happened in January (or I didn't take pictures of it if it did).  So first big thing was in February when we found out that my sister-in-law was pregnant!!!

We were THRILLED!!!!!  This is her and her mom in the photo.  A few days after this announcement they went to their first ultrasound and found out it was TWINS!

Nothing big in March either, but in April we found out that Jen was having twin GIRLS!!!  Lots of pink on its way!

Around the time we found out Jen was having twin girls, Justin and I found out we were expecting our own bundle of joy!!

We had already planned a trip for May to go to Rome and London, so we enjoyed that trip (even though I was exhausted all the time and quite hormonal).

Roman Colosseum

Stonehenge

Later in the month we had that first ultrasound where we got to hear the heartbeat and see that sweet baby for the first time.  His heartrate was 185!!!  Everyone said he was a girl, but I had been guessing boy from day 1 (my gender prediction for his brother was definitely NOT correct).

In June, me and one of my best friends Carina went to NYC for a long weekend.  We both LOVE New York.  We didn't get a picture together for some reason (oh I know why...it was 2011 and selfies weren't a thing then) so this is really the only picture of me that I have.  I was 12 weeks pregnant at the time.  I don't look big at all whatsoever, but at the time (never having been pregnant before), I felt massive.  If only I knew at the time what week 39 was going to look like!!

July held all things BOY.  First, my sweet nephew Cooper was born in Tampa, FL. 

And then about two weeks later, Justin and I cut into a cake in front of our closest friends and family and found out our bundle would also be a boy!  This was also the same moment that we told Justin's dad, Gordon, that the baby would hold his name as a middle name.  We didn't know his first name until a few days after this, but at that moment, we knew his middle name would be Gordon.

In August, the sweet little Gault twins made their way into our lives!

Those girls gave me some good practice before Carter made his way into the world. 

Nothing major happened in September, but in October, all the Rogers girls got together and went to a pumpkin patch over on Hwy 280.

Also in October, I ran/walked the Race for the Cure 5k with my friend Tiffany.  Tiffany had actually JUST found out she was pregnant with Harper that weekend but she hadn't told me about it yet.

Another big thing in October was my maternity pictures that my sister, Lindsey, took over in Ross Bridge.

 

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving.

I want to say I was 35 weeks pregnant in this picture.  It was right after Thanksgiving (I always put up my Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving).

December as a very busy month obviously.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Cooper.  He was giving Carter a hug and telling him to hurry up and come on out!!!

My belly is gigantic y'all.  GIGANTIC.  But none of it mattered because a couple of days later, we went in to force Carter out of my belly (one day past my due date).  The delivery was extremely difficult and there was few complications, but he and I were completely fine and he was PERFECT.

So that was 2011!!!  It was busier than it seemed...it's just that, we didn't take a ton of pictures back then.  I feel like I take a ton more pics now than I used to then and not because I have kids, but because I think technology with camera phones has gotten better and more convenient for spur of the moment picture taking.  Up next will be 2010.  That one will be tougher because my folders for that year aren't organized by month so I'll have to figure out what picture is from what month, which could take a while!

The Morris Crew Goes to Disney - Part 4

This was our 2nd full day at Magic Kingdom (though it was our 4th time to Magic Kingdom for the trip).  It rained all day again which was unfortunate.  The kids didn't love it when we had to put the rain cover over the strollers.  They couldn't see as well and they weren't fans of it.  I don't blame them at all!  But we tried to make the most of it!  I also didn't take many pictures this day because of the rain, so I will combine this day at Magic Kingdom with our final day which was spent at Hollywood Studios.

The day started for the girls significantly earlier than it did for the boys.  The girls used this day to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and get made over like princesses.  They were so beautiful that me, Gordon and Debbie were all crying!

Our crew separated from the girls the majority of this day because they had lots of princess stuff lined up.  Since my boys couldn't care less about princesses, we went off on our own to meet other characters and ride some more rides!

 

Had to get a family pic in front of the castle first!

 

Then we saw Buzz Lightyear and Carter said he wanted to meet him.  Carter has heard of Toy Story and seen toys for the movie so he's heard of Buzz Lightyear, but he has never watched Toy Story so he didn't know anything about it.  He wanted to meet him, but he wanted me to hold him while he was doing it.

 

Typical Garrett....sleeping the day away!

This was the day that we were able to convince Carter to ride Splash Mountain.  He LOVES stuffed animals and we found a Mickey at a store that he really really wanted so we (being the bad parents we are) told him that we would buy him the Mickey if he rode Splash Mountain.  So he willingly got on the ride.  He really liked the part at the beginning where you go through the inside of the mountain.  But when it came time for that hill...his face above says it all!!!  He was fine until we hit the bottom.  Then he cried and when I asked why he was crying he said it was because he got wet.  We were in the back row folks and I am willing to bet money that he got MAYBE a few drops on him.  It wasn't a bad cry either, it was a sad cry which broke my heart and made me feel awful for making him do it in the first place.  But sure enough, we went and got him that Mickey!

And he slept soundly that night with all those dang animals.  We brought Henry to Disney World.  That's it.  And somehow, during our time in Disney, he went from one animal to five.  Justin was the one that slept in the bed with Carter every night except for one.  We had two queen beds in our room so one night Carter slept with me, but the rest of the nights he wanted to be with his daddy.  Which suited me just fine :)  So Justin had to fit on the bed between Carter and 5 animals!

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios which was better than Epcot, as far as kid stuff to do goes, but still small so it didn't take us all day. 

 

This was at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.  All the kids loved running around climbing stuff and playing.  Sadly they are getting rid of this attraction soon.

If you ask Carter what his favorite show at Disney was, he would say thing one.  The Frozen Sing-a-Long.  We basically watched the main parts of the movie and it was a sing-a-long.  And at the end, Elsa and Anna came out and everyone sang Let It Go one more time and snow started falling from the ceiling.  All the kids loved it! And because of it, Carter has all of a sudden developed an interest in all things Frozen!

This was in the Toy Story ride.  It was a really fun ride!  Garrett just liked being out of the stroller, but Carter actually played in the ride.  You had a gun in your seat and you shot at targets to get the most points.  It was really cool!

 

The one show Carter went to without the girls was the Car Stunt Show.  It was loud.  There were explosions.  But there were cars and he loved it!  He never really talked or made facial expressions.  I feel like he was so mesmerized!

After the stunt show, we all went to check out a new attraction called Club Disney.  This had just opened on December 5th.  We didn't know much about it but went anyway.  Oh my y'all.  This is the coolest place ever!!!  They played club music (edited and kid friendly of course) and had strobe lights and a DJ and all the main Mickey characters were on the dance floor dancing with the kids.  It was seriously the coolest thing y'all!!!  Even the adults had fun!

Luckily there were tables and couches around the dance floor for us old folks that couldn't keep up with the four year olds!  And the two babies used the table to roll a coke bottle back and forth.  They were totally entertained by that!

There were screens on the walls and they changed a lot.  Sometimes it was just dance related stuff like in the picture above.  But other times they would play club versions of Disney songs.  For example, they played a club version of "Under the Sea" (Little Mermaid) and the screen flashed scenes from the movie and the ceiling released bubbles during the entire song.  It was so stinking cool!!!!

 

I'm glad we attempted a family photo in front of the Tower Hotel, but because we were all facing the sun, not many of us were able to look at the camera!  A for effort though!

 

 

The kids saw the toy soldiers (Toy Story) walking around and they saluted and took a picture with one!

 

 

We went to Magic Kingdom again (shocker I know).  Carter really wanted to ride the People Mover again.  He rode it with his daddy while I walked Garrett around for a nap, but he wanted me to see it and ride it with me.  So we went back and I rode it with him.  He cracked me and Justin up.  He was so proud that he knew about the ride and I didn't so he made sure to tell me everything that was going to happen and all the things I'd see.  This ride goes through Space Mountain so it's pitch black and Carter grabbed my hand and said "Don't be afraid mom, I've got you.  Don't worry, there's no bugs."  Ha!!!  Don't know why he thought I was worried about bugs but I loved the sweet gesture!

The next day we left!  We flew from Orlando to Atlanta and then on to Birmingham again.  Garrett did this right here during the longer of the two flights from Orlando to Atlanta:

In Atlanta we definitely had a scare with Carter.  He was walking to Nana (who was sitting in one of the chairs at the gate) and he tripped and ended up hitting his throat on the edge of the armrest.  He immediately lost it and cried so hard.  I saw it happen and my heart skipped a beat. I truly thought he had seriously injured his neck.  I ran to him to pick him up and walked around trying to get him to calm down.  What I didn't realize was that several paramedics were standing right there and saw it happen and they really wanted to check him out.  His mouth was bleeding really badly and they wanted to make sure nothing major was wrong.  It was determined that he was fine and he did eventually calm down.  I was crying pretty hard though.  Seeing that happen and knowing that it had to have hurt so badly...just broke this mama's heart y'all. 

 

It was nice to be home for sure.  When you are 4 years old and are used to having a 2 hour nap every day and going to bed no later than 8:30pm...Disney World is tough.  The lack of naps and staying up till 10pm or later every night eventually took its toll on all the kids.  Both my boys fell asleep at 6:30pm the day we got home and slept till after 8am the next day.  It took Carter a solid week to catch up on his sleep and start acting normal again.  We had so much fun though!!  I will say that when we go again, I will be sure to wait until Garrett is at least 5 or at the very least, not taking naps anymore.  Carter talks about Disney every single day so I know he had so much fun.  I would say that he won't remember this experience but I truly think he will.  Carter remembers things that happened two years ago so I know that he will remember this forever!

This was a video from the Club Disney.  Not great quality, but it gives you an idea of it!

The Morris Crew Goes to Disney - Part 3

On the third day of visiting Disney parks, we hit up Magic Kingdom.  We scheduled two days to be at Magic Kingdom because there was so much kid stuff there.  Wouldn't you have it...those two days were the two days that it rained!  No biggie though...rain meant less people and shorter lines!

 

We started out in Tomorrowland by riding the Astro Orbit ride.  Essentially the same thing as Dumbo, but it was higher.

I love this photo of Justin and Garrett riding it.  I snapped it not realizing that the castle was in the background.  Such a cool picture!

And of course we made a few minutes for the big kids to ride Space Mountain!!

Like I said in my post from the first day at Disney, Carter didn't really have any interest in meeting characters.  When he rode the Winnie the Pooh ride he all of a sudden loved Pooh.  He made us use his Disney giftcard he got for Christmas to buy him a Pooh stuffed animal.  Then he said that the ONLY character he wanted to meet was Winnie and Tigger.  So of course, we made that happen!  Love seeing those sweet hugs he gave Pooh!!!

Garrett loved the character unlike his brother.  He had a tendency to always want to play with their noses!

Made some more time for the big kids to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  You're never too old to put your hands in the air on a rollercoaster!!

 

 

 

 We took the kids for a quick boat ride over to Tom Sawyer Island.  This was probably Garrett's favorite place because it was the longest he was out of the stroller and exploring and walking around. 

 We rode a train back to the front of the park.  All the kids thought that train rides and monorail rides were actual rides.  They had no idea it was so that we didn't have to walk for days! 

This is Carter watching Splash Mountain.  He was scared for the people on the ride because he was watching them go down the big hill.  He hung out in the "splash zone" on the bridge just watching over and over again.  We tried so hard to convince him to do it but he had no interest in it.  Oh but he did end up doing it!!!  But not until later.

That night at Magic Kingdom Carter rode what he calls one of his ABSOLUTE favorite rides.  The tea cups.  Those.  Dang.  Teacups.  Carter wanted to ride it over and over and the girls all for some reason wanted to ride it with me too.  I ended up riding those teacups probably 5 or 6 times and wanted to vomit every single time.  But the joy on Carter's face!!!

We ended our fun day at Magic Kingdom with another viewing of the fireworks, but this time we viewed it from Main Street looking at the castle. We went back to the hotel for the night and hit the sack...we were all exhausted.  Up next, day 2 at Magic Kingdom!!