Valentines/Presidents Day Weekend at the Lakehouse.

This weekend we headed upstate for the 3 day weekend. We had so much fun playing outside on the perfect mound of snow that seemed to be left in the yard just for us to go sledding on.

Hailey & John sledding down the mountain.

Joey our future snowboarder who kept a smile on his face the entire way down and smiled even wider once he reached the bottom. He's going to be a daredevil and give me plenty more grey hair.

Joey relaxing after his several trips down the hill.Hailey dancing to Guitar Hero that the adults were playing on the WII game system. She even grabbed the microphone a few times herself. She's probably the only 4 year old that knows the chorus to the song "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi.

Hailey - Conversation

It still amazes me the conversations Hailey can have at the young age of 4. I picked her up from school today and it went something like this:

Me: Hi Hails, How was school today?

Hailey: Good.....What did you do while I was at school Mommy?

Me: I did some work at home.

Hailey: Oh.....How was your day at work today Mommy?

Soooo sweet she is!!!

Kiddie Update

This week we were fighting off colds which meant trips to the doctors. The good thing about this is that I get to see how much they have grown. Here are there stats:

Hailey is weighing in at 33lbs
Joey is weighing in at 27lbs.

I asked the doctor if I should be worried that Joey is only 6 pounds lighter than Hailey. He proceeded to laugh at me and then told me that you can't compare boys and girls on the same scale.

It has a face!!!

For the last few weeks I had been going back and forth with Hailey about putting her hair up or at least tucking it behind her ears. For some reason her head seeems to be very sensitive and it was driving me crazy that she would have a full conversation with me while her hair was covering her beautiful face. After much thought, I decided there was no other option than to give her a hair cut......

She sat like such a big girl in the chair while the barber went to work. The end result.....

Hailey was so excited with her new hair cut. She loves it, and so do we. More importantly, now we get to see her face.

Mommy's Sick Day

I was hit with a really bad cold today, so Hailey and Joey spent most of the day in bed with me watching movies.

An Alves Surprise

This weekend Aunt Kristine, Andrew and Adelina came to NY to surprise Grandma and Grandpa. I had known they were coming in, so I picked them up at the airport and we headed home. Everyone was so excited especially Aunt Annemarie who hadn't seen them since they left last June. For a rare moment all 5 kids were sitting nicely on the couch, so we rushed at the chance to capture the moment.

Silly Hailey

How many funny faces can Hailey make....

Winter Fun

Since getting from Disney the winter weather has been in full swing. We came home to a snow storm the following day so our cabin fever was beginning to grow. Since attending Nathaniel's birthday party at McDonald's and seeing how much fun the kids had, I decided to take them back. This time John joined us. It was fun to watch Hailey and John run around with Joey following behind them with a big smile on his face.

Disney Day 8 - Goodbye to Mickey's House

Today was our last day in Disney. We spent the day shopping in Downtown Disney and spent about 2 hours in Disney Quest which is a 4 floor arcade. Hailey and Joey were great on the flight home as they both fell asleep before the plane even took off. Till next year, hopefully!!!

Disney Day 7 - Hollywood Studios...Still MGM to me!!

Our day today started with a character buffet breakfast with Chef Mickey and Friends. The kids were so excited. Joey would not take his eyes off the characters once they came near him and he seemed obsessed with grabbing their noses. Hailey and Andrew continued getting pictures and autographs from as many characters as they could.

After breakfast we headed for Hollywood Studios where we saw some more characters and caught some great live shows like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and PlayHouse Disney.

When we walked out of the Muppet 3D show, we were greeted by Lightning McQueen.

Before leaving the park we stopped by the Star Wars ride where Hailey pretended to be Princess Leia.

Disney Day 6 - Hailey's 4th Birthday at Magic Kingdom

Today was Hailey's 4th Birthday, and what better way to spend it then a day riding rides and meeting characters at Mickey's House. Hailey received a phone call that morning from Goofy wishing her a Happy Birthday. She also got a birthday card from Mickey Mouse himself and was given a pin to wear all day so that everyone would know this was her special day. If that wasn't enough, she also wore her "Birthday Girl" T-shirt that was given to her by Lolo and Lola to wear specifically for the occassion.

This year Ron bought Hailey an autograph book so that she could meet all her favorite characters and have a momento of the day. Hailey and Andrew had a great time walking up to the characters with their books and pens ready for their new friends to sign.

When we arrived at the Buzz Light Year ride, Joey was in his glory. These days he is very into Toy Story and would not take his eyes off of Buzz or Zerg.

We all had a fabulous time riding the rides, meeting the characters and just all being together.

Joey sliding the slide at Winnie-the-Pooh's tree house

Grandma and her annual Dumbo ride.

We stayed in the park for the entire day and even made it to see the fireworks show that night over Cinderella's Castle.

Disney Day 5 - Full Marathon and the Alves Clan

Today we woke up again at 3 am to watch Grandpa, Uncle David and Cousin Eric run the Full Marathon. Uncle David got hit with a really bad cold and unfortunatley could not run that day. But, we proceeded to our posts to watch Grandpa and Eric run the 26.2 miles ahead of them. Not only was I excited to watch the run, but I was also counting the hours until Aunt Kristine and Uncle Abel arrived with Andrew and Adelina in tow.

After seeing Grandpa at the 12 mile marker, looking great, we decided to stop for some breakfast at the buffet in the Polyneision Hotel before heading to the finish line. Hailey and Joey had both fallen asleep in the stroller but were woken up by some great friends.







I personally was excited to meet Mary Poppins, who is my all time favorite Disney character. When I told her that Hailey was turning 4 years old the next day, she turned to Hailey and said, "Why, your almost a full hand old". Hailey giggled!!!


Joey just waking up to find Winnie the Pooh next to him. After this he would not take his eyes off the Pooh-Man.



After breakfast it was time to head for the finish line.....



About 10 minutes after seeing Grandpa cross the finish line, my cell phone rang with word that the Alves clan had arrived. We were all so excited to once again be reunited. It was very emotional and we were all happy to see Hailey and Andrew picking up right where they had left off as if no time had passed from the last time they were together.

After a much needed nap the Team headed out to our usual dinner celebration, Benihanna's Restaurant.

Our Disney marathon weekend was officially over......

Now it was time to relax and enjoy the remainder of our trip.

Disney Day 4 - Half Marathon

Today was the day Mom had been training for during the last few months. The weather was perfect and you guys were great for your Dad. This year I saw so many Disney Characters during my run that it made it that much more enjoyable. Go Team!!