Nester

Nester is our new addition to the family. He's a 10 week old dachshund. We named him Nester because of his long ears (aka Nester the long eared Christmas donkey). He has such a personality on him. He loves to be held and cuddle with you. He sleeps under our covers curled up in a ball!

Nester's First Day Home

Me & Nester

Justin and Nester

Brandon and Nester

Nicholas and Nester

Nester, Cody and Mater

This is so funny...Nester adjusted very well with the other dogs. He just blends right in. He loves laying with Cody and crawling underneath his arm. At first Cody didn't know what was happening, since we usually have bigger dogs, and they typically get in the crook of your legs, but he accepted the snuggling and doesn't seem to mind at all!

Hudson Meeting Nester

Blending with the Big Dogs

Nester Laying down with Gavin

Nester loves laying around with the kids, especially on their laps. He loves to snuggle!

Nester Snoozing on the Couch

He thinks he's big cheese on campus! The funny part is, he can't get on and off the couch because of his little legs, so we have portable steps next to the couch to help him.

Nester Playing In the Snow

Nester loves to dig his nose in the snow and sniff it. When he does that he scoops up the snow on his nose and it stays there. It's very cute! Of course, he's sporting his fashion sweater as well!

Who Found The Pickle Ornament

We started a Christmas tradition about 2 years ago (actually a German tradition). The story from Germany is they took a pickle and hid it in the Christmas tree. Whoever found the pickle would get an extra special gift for finding it. Well, since we're not going to use real pickles, my mom went to Germany in Epcot (the next best thing) and bought us a pickle orament. So we have been hiding it ever since. Now that the kids are a little bigger and understand more, they get a big kick out of it, and it turns into more of a competition. However, the gift that we buy is for everyone to play/use.

Justin on Christmas Morning

Nicholas Christmas Morning

Nicholas was enjoying opening his presents. He gets the best of both worlds because he gets to open presents on Christmas, and then Nicholas' birthday is the next day, December 26th!

Brandon Christmas Morning

Gavin - Christmas Morning -

The Chia Tree

This is Brandon's Chia Tree that he got for Christmas. I must have done something wrong when setting this up, because it was very barran looking. I have since started over, and giving it another try! The directions, however, are very conflicting, on the box it says to soak for an hour, in the directions it says to soak overnight. The seeds too, one set of directions says soak for 10 minutes, another set says to soak for an hour? Also, in one part of the directions it says to cover the tree with a plastic bag? Didn't read that part before either? Hummmm, maybe that's why it got screwed up the first time??? So I cleaned it up, soaked it overnight and then some and put the seeds in water for over two hours. I'll have an update on the new tree once we see some progress. Keep your fingers crossed!

Epcot

We really enjoyed Epcot, especially since we were able to walk to the park this time, since we stayed at the Yacht Club. It was just a short walk and you entered in the park by the countries. It was great at night when we went back to watch the firworks! Brandon especially loved it, because he could ride Test Track in a matter of minutes!

Hollywood Studios

Each park had a different Christmas tree decorated in different themes before you enter inside the park.

Test Track

Brandon's favorite ride of all time is "Test Track." He can ride it over and over again. Outside of Test Track there is a display car with a test track dummy in it. He wanted his picture taken by the car. This is after we rode Test Track for about the 10th time! I went from screaming at the top of my lungs the first time, to putting my hair in a pony tail before we crash through the doors the last time! Pretty bad!

The Castle

Cinderella's Castle looked so pretty at night, especially during the holiday time. It's all lit up in purple and also has crystle lights on it as well.

Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

We had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, which servers Thanksgiving dinner every day! The food was great and you got to meet Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale! The dessert was great (hot apple cobbler with ice cream, yum!)

Brandon Waiting for the Disney Bus

Where's the Bus?

Since we stayed at the Yacht Club, it was in walking distance to Epcot & Hollywood studios. However, the other parks you either had to take a bus to. We typically would then take our vehicle to the park, rather than waiting for a bus. This time, and we're not sure why, we decided to take the bus. Of course, this time, each bus that pulled up was for every other park, but the Magic Kingdom! Finally the bus arrived after about 20 minutes!

Dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Muscial Review

We had dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo Muscial Review, which is located at the Fort Wilderness Campground. Before we went into the dinner show, we took the kids on pony rides. I was shocked that the pony rides were only $4.00 per kids, but come to find out that we had to walk each kid on the pony. That was an experience!! My pony started doing it's own thing and eating acorns off the ground. The stable lady said to pull the pony the way you want him to go, i'm in charge. OK, it sort of didn't work that way, LOL! We didn't get any pictures of them, because John had the camera and was right behind me on the track with Nicholas and had his own issues with his pony. So he couldn't take pictures too (so I was told!).

Magic Kingdom

We had a great day at the Magic Kingdom. We tried to get pictures of all of us at each park, since I purchased the photo pass CD. You can fill up the CD with as many pictures as you want to for the same price. So it was worth it. Plus, we really don't have many pictures of us all together.

Animal Kingdom

We took this picture in front of the Christmas tree outside of Animal Kingdom, after we got done having breakfast at Tusker House with the characters.

Everyone Girl Wants to be a Princess

We took the boys to eat at Norway, the princess dining. We were greeted by Belle hereself. We got our picture taken as a family, but I was asked if I wanted my pictured too! Of course I said, yes! We had a great time, and surprisingly the boys really enjoyed it!