we finally had our 'Dreams Come True' experience at Disney the weekend before Christmas and all I can say is WOW! We were a little concerned that Santa may not live up to the whole magical Disney experience!!! From the moment we checked in, to the moment we left (which was very sad) we were treated like royalty the entire weekend. This was truly an experience of a lifetime. We were surprised our first night at the Grand Floridian when we returned from the parks to find Mickey foot prints on the floor and gifts left across the room. Mia received a box full of things and the family got our very own Santa Mickey hats with our names embroidered on them.

The next days events started with Mia and Belle having a photo shoot in the rose garden in Magic Kingdom before the park even opened. As you can see below, I got some shots of the Castle without tons of people standing in front of it trying to do the same. I also scored a unique picture of main street which simulated a ghost town, again another rarity!

Saturday and Sunday were were escorted from park to park in a chaffuered SUV with a personal guide to do whatever we wanted, at whatever park, and ride whatever we wanted and twice in a row if we wished to! Mia got front row to many shows and Mike and I enjoyed buzzing up to the front for those very popular roller coasters!!! Our family joined Cinderella for dinner at her royal table and then it was off to watch the parade and fireworks in our VIP seated area. I'm telling you, the next trip to Disney is going to be a bummer after the treatment we received!!

Our evening ended up at the Castle with a white chocolate horse drawn carriage with chocolate covered strawberries. Mia got some popcorn and hot chocolate and she really enjoyed the unlimited selection of DVD's in the room. It is so hard to journal all the little details and level of service we were treated to and I am trying to do that, so I have a written memory for Mia to look back on. Our guides gave our little girl and unforgettable experience, and she really enjoyed every waking minute of it!!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

The Holidays are upon us and our house is buzzing with excitement. Next week we leave for Disney to redeem our winnings! Mia is overwhelmed with excitement and so are we! Elf on the Shelf has been overseeing things and has made his reports to Santa. It looks like Mia may get some goodies this year!

Elf On The Shelf
'Freddy' as Mia affectionately name her elf will watch over our family and report back to Santa each night about who has been naughty or nice that day. By morning he's back but he's in a different place in the house for a daily hide-and-seek ritual that Mike and I have been enjoying so much! He seems to be very clever and has been hiding in the funniest places!

Happy Thanksgiving

this year we had a small family gathering at our home. On Monday, I took Mia with me to deliver items that we had collected for a local homeless family shelter we have in our area. Our office collected over 300 lbs. of non-perishable items and the back of my car was full to the top!

I made it a point to bring Mia with me this year, as we want her to understand that there are people who are not as fortunate as we are and that we should help whenever we can.

I was so proud of her, she carried items into the pantry area at the shelter and I explained to her that some people have no homes or jobs right now and that this food helps them.

The next morning she walks into my room with a box of crayons and says, " Mommy here, I want to give these crayons to kids to who don't have any"

below is Mia with her guitar which she brought to the nursing home when we

went to visit Abuelo and sang 'Happy Thanksgiving' to him.

Thanksgiving is always at my Mom and Dad's house and this is a picture of the table.

It looked soooo pretty!

Sleep Over!

last night Mia had her friend Cayla spend the day with us and she had her first sleep over. The girls had a good time. We met up with some of Mia's other friends at the Chili Cookoff and then headed to Steak N Shake for some yummy burgers and of course milkshakes! We enjoyed having Cayla for the day and night and can't wait for future sleepovers!

Camera Fun!

I have been taking more and more photos of Mia and to be quite honest with you, I LOVE my subject so much, it makes it fun! I put together a blog of my favorite shots which I am gathering to submit to be accepted by a stock photo agency who licenses and sells prints for you. In order to be an accepted artist, I have to put together a compilation of photos for them to check out and 'accept' me! All of those shots are raw and unedited. check it out...... wish me luck! It is has been a life long dream to do something that I enjoy SO much!

HaLloWeEn FuN!

Mia's school had a costume party this year and then we had a little

inpromptu party at our house on Halloween night! Mike and I decided to join in on the fun because the parents were going to dress up as well. If you see my picture below, my booty was courtesy of Mia's hello kitty pillow which she caught me stuffing into my pantyhose and was a little upset : 0 ))

Father Michael....hahaha

Grannie