Cinderella's Royal Table

On Emma's Birthday we had reservations for dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table and it did not disappoint.  The food was yummy, ambiance was great and service was excellent.

The Royal Table is located inside the castle and you can not even get in to look around unless you are dining there.   We tried to go in and look around last year with no luck.

Upon entering we were greeted by Cinderella herself and she looked beautiful.

Each of the kids were presented with a wishing star when we were seated.  Emma was given a wand and Gavin was given a sword.

Here are most of the cards being brought to the table that were mailed to Emma before we left by family and friends.  She loved this part of it and was very curious how everyone knew the address to the castle and even more shocked that she got mail there.

She was also presented with glass slipper that we ordered for her that read, Princess Emma Caroline, June 15, 2012 and Dreams comes true. 

Curtis found this idea and I am so glad he did because it is something she can keep forever. She loved it so much and kept telling us thank you over and over.

One of the cards she opened from the DiStefano family had 20-$1 bills in it and she was ecstatic.  She could not wait to go spend it.  

Emma gained a new love for Snow White while we were there and even used some of her money to buy a snow white dress, headband and wand.

Sleeping Beauty was sure pretty in her pink dress. 

Ariel was so funny and kept talking to Emma in her movie voice and referring to so many parts of the movie.  She actually remembered Emma from breakfast the day before.

Of course her favorite was Belle and she spent a long time with Emma because she knew how much Emma really loved her.

She asked Emma if she could kiss her on her forehead and of course Emma said, "YES!"  Daddy wished Belle had been in her fancy dress, but we got to see her several times in that one.

One proud little girl that all her dreams had come true on her Royal Fifth Birthday.

Brother Bear stood up occasionally, swung his sword around and reminded all the Little Princesses who was in charge. 

We ordered this dessert ahead of time and it was super yummy.   It was a white chocolate slipper filled with mousse on top of a piece of angel food cake (the pillow).  Let me just say that Disney has it all covered and everything they do is over the top.

Mommy  brought the number FIVE candle so she could officially blow the candle out on her FIFTH birthday.   She begged for us not to let them sing Happy Birthday to her, so we sang to her quietly at the table.

She was also given a huge Princess Balloon, but it looks like I forgot to get a picture of that.  She was not shy about eating the Royal Slipper.

She was so sweet and more than willing to share it with our little Prince.

Gavin was very uninterested in the Princesses, but he was more than happy to eat their slipper.  He was such a trooper the entire trip and never complained when we did all the girly stuff, of course we did lots of boy stuff too.

Happy FIFTH Birthday Emma Caroline, it was a Royal celebration indeed.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo

Emma was super surprised that we planned a little party for her in our hotel room, she was totally clueless and even said, "Mom, you told me I was not getting any gifts this year."   Great thing about it was, she would have been totally okay with getting nothing because Disney was her gift, but I wanted her to have gifts to open.

She was super excited to sit on the Princess pedestal and get to work ripping into the bags and gifts I had hidden in a suitcase of there own.   We surprised her with two charms, Princess perfume set, Belle Jewelry Box, 4 Disney movies, a Belle Pez dispenser, Princess coloring book, the Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique, Cinderella's Royal table and FIVE tickets to see Pinkalicious at the children's theatre (where she gets to invite friends).

She was so excited to be FIVE, so of course she loved this number FIVE charm and the Princess Crown we gave her to always remember her magical celebration.  Her Grandma also gave her the swim charm this year, which she loves.

This is the happy~go~lucky girl we love so much right here and the one we missed at the Princess breakfast (I am so sorry sweet girl).  I think she had more birthday cakes and cupcakes to celebrate turning FIVE than I have ever had in my entire life.  Remember, we choose to call it "greatly loved",  not spoiled.

Emma had no idea she would be doing the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique on her birthday.  She had been asking to go from the day we arrived and we just kept telling her you had to have an appointment months in advance to be able to get a Princess makeover.   She was ecstatic when we showed up at the Castle and realized she was getting a makeover.  There she goes hand in hand with her fairy Godmother to be transformed into her favorite Princess and for her Birthday wish to come true.

She loved reminding me all day long that she was the BIG FIVE and of course I pretended to cry every time, she loved it.  At the end of the day she wrapped her arms around my neck and said, "Mom, don't be sad because I will always be your baby girl."  Yes, you will always be my baby girl no matter how old you become Emma Caroline.

Here is our Little Princess before they sprinkled her with fairy dust and turned her around for the big reveal.  She was rocking her 5th Birthday sash and that bun (ha ha).  Notice how many miles the bottom of those Belle shoes have on them, the girl wore them to MDO every day for the last 3 months of school even though I begged her not too.  I even tried to convince Mrs. Becky to tell her she could not wear them anymore and she told me she loved them too.

We had to get one picture in front of the castle before heading over to Castle Couture to finish off with a "cheesy" little photo shoot.

This girl was ready to pose for the photographer with her photo pass and she did not care what the backdrop looked like.

More to come on the 5th Birthday celebration and this little sign on our resort door reminded us daily why we were at Disney, along with the little girl who reminded us every chance she got that she was about to be FIVE!

Princess Breakfast

These vacation pictures have me a little overwhelmed, but I am determined to get our entire vacation posted and then hope to do last years too (shame on me).  When you have over 1000 pictures on your camera, where do you start?

The day we visited Epcot we had a BIG breakfast with all the Princesses at Askerhaus and it was yummy.  We were running a little late, but Daddy got us there in time for our reservation and we were a sweaty mess.

Surprised this little guy did not fly us there with his Super Hero powers and all that energy cooped up inside this little body.  Let me just say that Gavin could give a flip about all the girly stuff that took place this morning.  Matter of fact he watched Toy Story on his Daddy's phone the entire time we ate.

We were so excited when we walked in and there stood Emma's very favorite Princess, Belle.  I expected her to be jumping for joy, but her reaction was quite different.  When we got seated at our table I started talking to her and she just did not seem like her happy-go-lucky self which really had me puzzled.   I left it alone until all the Princesses passed by and then I realized that something was not right.

If you have seen any of her other character pictures you know that this is not her usual expression.  Daddy finally asked her if she was sad, if her feelings were hurt, if she was mad and she just kept looking at us with this blank stare on her face.

Something finally clicked and I realized that we had given her allergy medicine when she woke up in an effort to control her asthma episodes.  Well, needless to say the medication had her somewhat drugged because she was not accustomed to taking it.  Let me just tell you I felt H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E, but I was so happy that we figured it out.  Poor Emma Lou struggled to enjoy the Princesses that morning but she tried so hard to make the best of it, bless her heart.

This poor babies asthma was OUT OF CONTROL on this trip and really had me so worried we would have to come home if she developed a fever.   She was such a trooper and she hung in there the entire time and we continued to give her inhalers, medication and prayed alot for her to get better. 

Every meal we had this girl was SPOILED with some sort of birthday surprise.  It is pretty safe to say she had a heck of a FIFTH birthday.  I asked her several times during the week if she regretted not having a party and she always responded with, "not at all Mom".

Thank goodness by the time we got to some of the other characters the allergy medication had worn off and we had our old Emma back.

Gavin was still uninterested in the characters at this point and he only requested that they sign his autograph book, but did not want his picture taken with them.  We did not push the issue or try to make him take a picture with them, we were just thankful that he was not afraid of them.

Oh Goofy, you were so sweet and Emma just adored you and those big ears.  Gavin decided to run a couple circles around you and then make his way back to the stroller.

Finally a picture of Gavin putting his autograph book up on Pluto's nose to sign.  It was so funny because he backed up until he was finished, politely took it back and moved on.

Gavin took advantage of every water puddle and spray park he could find while we were at Disney.  This was at downtown Disney and the boy had a blast waiting for the water to shoot up on him.

There were a couple times he laid completely down on his belly and decided to drink the water straight off the ground.  I guess what doesn't kill them makes them stronger, right?  There was a time at Hollywood Studios that we found him drinking out of a fountain that had a ton of change in it, YUCK!

Just to prove that he was a happy boy on the trip and did slow down a little to let us get a few pictures of him.  This kid makes me smile no matter what!

Last Swim Meet

This Momma was up at 4:30 this morning packing up for the last swim meet of the season.   The kids were up around 5:10 and we were gone shortly after, so we could make it in time for swimmer check in at 6:00 and find a place to camp out for the day.  Daddy was traveling home from Chicago today, he was sad he did not get to see Emma's last swim meet and so was she.

Emma is occupying her time waiting patiently to get checked in for the day.  That is a pretty happy little girl to be up so early.

All checked in and tagged for races 17 Freestyle and 39 Backstroke, just waiting for warm ups to begin.  This week was our divisional meet, so there were 6 teams at the meet with a total of about 900 swimmers. It was crazy, but organized.

This week something just clicked with Emma and her strokes look awesome.  Hmm, wonder if it has something to do with those FIVE year old fine motor skills starting to develop?

What does the littlest Frazier do while waiting to cheer Emma on while she swims?  You are looking at what keeps him occupied part of the time.  He actually brought a remote control today and when Emma was in the pool he was controlling it acting like he was controlling how she was swimming in the pool.  It was priceless and hilarious.  The boy has an imagination that is out of this world.

Emma has met tons of new friends at swim and today she enjoyed playing with Kierra and Madeline.  Her favorite swim friends are Lauren, Melinda and Stephanie, we can not wait to have a play date with them this summer.

Here are all our 4-6 year old girls holding onto the rope as they are escorted to the ready bench for the 25 yard Backstroke.  They were so cute and chanted, "Go Stingrays Go" all the way to the pool. 

Emma on the ready bench with the opponents that she would be swimming against.  She was determined to win today and she did an awesome job.  She improved her freestyle time by 45 seconds and her backstroke time by about 20, way to go Emma Lou!

I can not even begin to explain how PROUD we are of you, Emma.  You have far surpassed our goals for you in the water this summer and you have enjoyed every single second of being on swim team.  We are blown away by how dedicated you have been in the water, how determined you have been to improve and how brave you have been this entire swim season.

You walked into swim the very first day and never hesitated to meet new friends, try new things and trust the coaches to help you.  You have been so independent this swim season and proved to me and Daddy that you are beyond ready to go to Kindergarten.

You are one very special little girl and no matter where you go or what you do, you give it your very best.  Your personality and your light shines in all you do and people instantly fall in love with you.   The parents, coaches and older swimmers all thought you were the cutest little thing ever and so do we!

Thank you for making us so proud this swim season.  We are going to miss seeing you in the water daily and cheering you on at weekly meets. We look forward to attending the awards banquet with you and watching you get your trophy.  God has great things in store for you baby girl and we will always be your biggest fans.