Pennies from Heaven

Monday, February 21, 2011

DisneyLand 2010 Day ONE

Due to popular demand by friends and family to see more pictures of the Filby DisneyLand vacation here is a post (or two, or three...) dedicated to our magical trip that we went on just before Thanksgiving. It was the greatest kick-off to our Christmas season. The girls had an absolute wonderful time...and lets not KID ourselves so did all of the adults!

First we had to get there...via airplane. The first time we went Samantha thought that the plane would land right in DisneyLand.

We were promptly greeted by none other than Minnie and Micky Mouse and some of their Disney celebrity friends!!

It's A SMALL WORLD!!! This ride had my girls in amazement the whole time and we loved listening to Grandma Susan sing to us. There were 11 people in our group and we all loaded onto one boat for a great time together. Hands down (or UP in my girl's case) this ride is in our

TOP 5!

Samantha and Layla with their cousin Taryn~

Grandma and Gradpa filby leading the way..in song no less (well at least Grandma)

SLASH MOUNTAIN!!! Sam loved it...Layla liked it...we will leave it at that :) Layla found herself over whelmed with the theatrics and the dark (which seemed to loom at every ride with special effects and glow in the dark artistic elements). However she loved Space Mountain which is completely in the dark???

This magical place becomes even more magical after the sun goes down...

Main Street~

Sleeping Beauty's Castle~

Walking over to California Adventure to catch the WORLD OF COLOR light and fountain show on the river.

The girls enjoying the view after Dinner and before the show. My girls were so excited to have their cousins on this trip with them.

Princess Ariel in the the fountain and lights...amazing show!

All tuckered out after our first day in DisneyLand followed up with a short swim and bath. Goodnight...

Don't worry I have LOTS more to come... after all we haven't even seen the Princesses yet!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

blogging + me = frustration.... grrr!

BLOG OVERHAUL IN PROCESS... I really need a blog tutorial...I can't figure out fun text scripts, headers...anything...so frustrating. Well I have added some fun and up-to-date family stuff. Take a look and leave me a message if you now how to do all the fun stuff in the blogging world. I really want my headers a different color???
P.S. This attempt to re-enter the blogging world...yet again...is in honor of you Deb!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Who Has Spirit? Sam has Spirit YES SHE DOES!

Samantha participated in school spirit week and I was sure to snap photos to share each day! She was first hesitant to be CRAZY but when she got to school and seen that her best friend was "doing it too" and all the other kids gave her tons of attention....she loved it and would ask at the end of each day what the next theme was.

Monday: Crazy Hair Day

Tuesday: Wild Socks Day

Wednesday: Hat Day

Thursday: School Colors Day (green & yellow)

Friday: Backwards Day

Of course Layla wanted to get in on the action each and every morning too...

I love being at home with my girls and witnessing them discover their personalities and realizing it is OK to be different and express themselves!! Samantha is a huge influence on Layla...she will do anything her big sister asks her to. I love that she has a wonderful big sister to look up to.

Samantha Sharlene

Samantha was born on June 8, 2004. It was quickly discovered that our little angel had a severe birth defect involving her heart and lungs (CHD). Her condition was diagnoised as Pulmonary Atresia. In her first year of life she had three open heart, reconstructive surgeries. In 2008 she had her fourth open heart surgery for a valve replacement. Her life opened up a window to us that we had closed a long ago. Eventually our hopes and fears for our little one lead us to the window and we crawled through with all the hopes and prayers in the world and beyond for our new little family. Sam is now seven (or will be this June) and she is a light in our lives. She is smart, adorable, friendly, loving and the best big sister. She LOVES art and enjoys reading, music, being with her friends and being creative.

Layla Michelle

Layla was welcomed into our family September 12, 2007. She is my dark beauty. Big brown eyes and a smile that melts your heart. Layla will be four this year and she is a spit-fire! I didn't know so much sugar and sass could be packed into a little package. Layla is bound and determined to do EVERYTHING her big sister is doing. She is also a great big sister to Mady. Layla loves to dance and shows so much talent. She is the best eater we have in the house and she is willing to try AND do just about anything. She is excited for summer so we can get our annual Lagoon passports and do all the fun rides. Currently she really loves Pre-School activities, learning, being read to, making up her own stories, Dora cartoons and "Tangled". Every morning she tells me how beautiful I am as I do her hair..of course I tell her how beautiful she is too. She then says that she is growing her hair long like 'Tangled'. She is certainly our little princess and fills our days with magic.

Madilyn Lorretta

Madilyn is our little sweetie but also our fiesty redhead. She was adored by all when she was born on August 1, 2009. This little one could prove to show her Mama what a real DIVA is capable of. Mady is 18 months old, full of emotions and loves to play with her sisters, hear stories, and explore her toys. She has an infectious giggle and the cutest little run you have ever seen. This little girl also adores music and likes to bounce around to the tunes. Mady keeps us on our toes and has been the perfect addition and completion to our family.