Merry Christmas Eve from the Blake Family and Sandy Claws!

Aka Jack Skellington. :) Whom the kids LOVE and were soooo excited they were bouncing and jumping and trying to escape the line to run right over to him! But then when it was our turn, they turned shy and afraid! Lol, what gives ladies?! The second we saw him and got in line, Cam and Ali went nuts! They wanted to see him ASAP!

Guess they didn't want to wait! Lol.

                                                             MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!


Yikes, that's the best photo the photo pass person could take! Geeze... Photopass seems to be a real hit or miss. They're not... "real" photographers. It's hard for me to let go and let someone else take photos lol. I'm not a professional, but I feel like I know what works best for MY family and I have a better idea of what's cute! It's always best to have either myself or Josh be a background photographer... more on that later, omg like with the Gaston encounter. We were so disappointed with the photographer's pictures! They were awful! I really just wanted some with Alice first... Alice wanted to see him at first but like with Jack, when it was her turn, she got scared lol.

This is the best photo the photopass guy got:

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? THAT'S the one photo of Belle Alice walking over to Gaston that he captured?

Sheesh... he could have captured a whole range of shots. Of Alice walking up to Gaston and at first, being earnest and eager, and then upon getting closer... getting scared and running back to me! Lol. She was so excited at first, until he started talking and then she ran back into my arms lol. It wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for... but oh well, I suppose! There were stars in my eyes prior to this moment. In my head, I wanted Alice to get a kiss on her hand... but then she didn't even want to go near him Lol.

I know it's not THAT big of a deal. But I love when things go smoothly and perfect! Hell, I wouldn't put all this effort (well, Sue made this dress, so HER effort too!!) if I didn't want the kids to have awesome pictures to look back on! This Gaston wasn't that great either... we were hoping for the one we had last year cause he was fantastic and hilarious. This one was a little more tame and less outwardly egotistical lol.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!

Ya know what though, Alice was sooooooo damn adorable and she got SO MANY COMPLIMENTS and comments on her dress!!! You don't see the villager provincial Belle dress in the parks that often, so, she truly was a sigh! So many people would go "Oh my gosh she's so cute!" or "Hi Belle!" and a lot of the cast members would go "Oh Belle, you are my favorite princess!" the dress was so damn awesome -- thank you Sue! And it actually fit her perfectly! I realized when I had tried putting her on it the very first time, there were some buttons I missed. Lol, MY BAD! IT WAS PERFECT.

Especially her at Gaston's fountain...

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere....
HOW CUTE IS SHE?!!?!

Which reminds me of one of my favorite Belle moments from the movie:

It was so cute chasing after Alice in Gaston's area. She'd run in and out of the gift shop and the cast members would go "Oh hi Belle! Bye Belle!" Lol. Josh bought her the Beast plush that is the most amazing plush EVER! Serriously, I'm kinda jealous!

Her birthday pin has also garnered extra attention and free cupcakes!! It was so funny, the first day, she would NOT wear her pin at all. So I put it on my shirt hoping that I could get her to wear it later on in the day... the first day, I kept getting "Happy Birthday!" and I'd be like "Oh gosh, uh thanks, it's actually my daughter's but she won't wear the pin!" Lol. I wish I could go on my real birthday... all the Happy Birthdays make you feel so darn special!

Sigh. It was still a very magical trip. There's nothing quite like the Christmas decorations inside the Magic Kingsom... hell, EVERYWHERE. The Polynesian Resort where we had our Ohana reservation was AMAZING. It was such a gorgeous resort and their decorations were fab.

Magic Kingdom's decorations take the cake though! Oh my God, and the fireworks... Josh and I were stunned. I was mesmerized at the fireworks during the Christmas party. I've never seen anything like it. Fireworks in sync to Christmas music, carols, and even the Nutcracker music... wow. People complain that Disney is expensive. Yeah, it is, but these people must have NEVER been because if they could see for themselves the light displays they do... come on, that stuff isn't cheap, and they really go ALL OUT. It's crazy!!! And to do that ever single night during the holiday season.. phew! Anyway, I'm rambling now! Lol. Disney is worth it. Josh thinks so. I think so. I'm so happy he has a good time! It's so funny he always says "I didn't think I'd have such a good time the first time...but I did! I need more!" I know baby, me too. Me too.

Merry Christmas Eve!!! Enjoy a few more photos. :)

Time for a checkup! Gonna check your ears check your eyes find out how much you've groooown. :D 

Omg Rafiki!!!!! He's a pretty rare character!
Oh my gosh he was so fantastic with the girls. He picked flowers for them.
When he handed a flower blossom to Alice... she CRUSHED it LOL.
And he mimed that he was heartbroken!! Lolol!!!

Alice and Tinkerbell!!!!

Cam loooves Tinkerbell too!!

Here's Josh on the Tower of Terror! 
How adorable is his grin!?!? LOL. I know, I know, he's sitting alone.
Helllll no I'm not going on that ride!!!Heeeeeeeeellll nooooo!!! Lol.

                                       Sigh, so cute! 

Ahhhh we are experiencing Disney magic once again!

Oy, where do I start? We are in Disney World again and I really can't believe it. Josh spoils us so much. I don't even know what to say besides the following--- wow!

Are we having fun? YES!!!!!!!!!

Is it crowded? Not as bad as we were made to believe. I was really freaked out about crowds... but the first day? BARELY crowded! It felt like no one was in the parks. For at least half the day. We literally rode like ten rides before the afternoon. We rode Dumbo once each, Cam went on the Barnstormer (a kid rollercoaster... TWICE! Once with me and once with Josh) she LOVED it lol. We rode It's A Small World (one of Josh's faves... we hit that first thing) we rode Peter Pan's Flight which is fun for us and scary for the kids... oh my god we rode so many things! Oh we hit up the Ariel ride twice! Gosh, it was amazing.

It was rainy, but not bad. I was like... this is NOTHING to us Washington freaks! Lol. Bring it on!

We loved it. And you know what... Chip N Dale NEVER disappoint. Guess how many times we've seen them since we've been here... THREE TIMES. I mean, four, if you count the Move It Shake It Parade.

Our girls LOVE Them. They adore them... so much. They are such great characters to see and interact with and we dressed up the girls in some Chip N Dale tutus and they were a HUGE HIT. With everyone, it was soooooooooooooooo darn cute watching them run around just like the real Chip N Dale in their little tutus!!!! Josh was like wow, that was a good idea! Lol. I didn't realize how much of a success they would be... but Chip N Dale really made a spectacle out of their outfits, and so did the photopass photographers! Even the other guests would compliment or comment on their outfits lol. It was so neat! I guess you don't usually see a lot of Chip N Dale tutus running around!

Today we went to Epcot and we decided to go stand in line to see them, as the line wasn't too long yet. So we got the girls in their tutus and when we were at the front, the line attendaant saw the girls and gasped and was like "Oh my gosh, those tutus! I can't! They even have a tail, and look at their noses!" LOLLLLLL. If we got that reaction from her... I thought to myself, I can't wait to see the reaction from Chip N Dale!!


This will forever live in my memory. Epcot's Chip N Dale... you rock!!!

Oh my God!!! Chip, it's you again!!!

Oh my God it's Dale, too!!

I can't believe you are real!!
(Here it's their third time seeing them... but isn't it awesome that they react like this every single time?! Later on we had a lunch with them, too Lol which would make it fourth so far! Yikes!)

Cam is super jealous as Alice gives Dale a kiss! Lol!

Dale is bashful about the kiss! Lol.

Awwwwwwwww big hugs for Alice! With her red Dale nose!

She just LOVES Them!!

Sniffle...

Dale engulfs Alice in a hug, Cam tries to get Dale's attention, and Chip tries to get Cam's attention by wiggling her tail! Lol.

I'm back Chip!!!!

Look at that Cam, in a big ol bear hug. :) Or chipmunk hug, rather lol.

She never wanted that hug to end!!

The photopass guys and the line attendant were all smiles and giggles. They were like "Oh we got so many good ones for you!" I can't wait to see the photos they took! It was so fun because they were all excited to see Chip N Dale meeting the Chip N Dale-ettes Lol.

Alice has to give Chip some love too! :)

Sigh.... it's magic. It really is.

Cam is perfectly comfortable... lol.

They didn't want to leave them! Le sigh... it's okay girls, I didn't either. Later on, we also had lunch with Chip N Dale at The Garden Grill. It was a really cool, (slow) moving restaurant that circled around/through one of the Epcot rides called Living With The Land. (Oh my gosh and earlier we rode (Spaceship Earth.. which is inside the GIANT grey sphere that has become the Epcot monument) THAT RIDE WAS AWESOME!!!

But... more on that later. Especially the lunch cause the girls had a blast there, too lol. And at the end of the lunch... Alice got delivered a Happy Birthday card from Mickey, Pluto, Chip N Dale! At the end of the day.... we had another Birthday Card delivered to our room from Mickey Mouse! Gosh, that girl will have so many fun souvenirs, mementos, and memories (in picture form anyway!) of all this amazing-ness!

Stay tuned!!!

OH MY GODDD!!!! We got a Highlander!!!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! I'm still squealing about it. Today has been a long day. Lots of back and forth phone calls from Josh, who went to go get the job done. Job being, buying a car. Lol.

The Toyota Highlander (V6 AWD Limited Platinum) was at the top of our list... and since a couple days ago, we had decided that this is definitely going to be the vehicle for us. It was so roomy, so luxurious, so... amazing!

The question was, did we want to spring for the Limited Platinum? I think I would have been fine with the XLE-- it did come with leather and captains chairs and such...  BUT. And a big but. The Platinum had extra features we couldn't ignore like... it has ALL the safety features like sensors for detecting cars and pedestrians etc, the cruise control thing, lane departure and blind spot sensors, and the list goes on. PLUS THE PANORAMIC MOON ROOF IS AMAZING!!!

Lol. The salesman delivered the car to our home and when I got the call I was like JOSH HE'S ON HIS WAY GET HOME! Josh had taken Alice to a Christmas party at work (where she had a blast hugging everyone Lol) and Cam stayed home with me because she actually took a nap, and slept for a looong time-- plus I had to stay home and wait for the car since I wasn't sure when it was coming!

Anyway, when the car pulled up into our driveway I was like... DAMN. That looks GOOD.

I wish they had delivered in the day so I could get a better picture!!

I wasn't sure if I'd like black! Lol. Or the grey interior. I really would have preferred a darker interior... which is okay, because that was a huge bargaining chip in getting this car at a good price. The day before I also had called a few dealerships in the area to try and get the price point we wanted. When I had two dealerships on the line with a bite, Josh went to the dealership we actually wanted to buy from with the info and price quotes I had gotten from other dealerships. And believe me, I lowballed like crazy, and I pushed, and pushed, and was a huge bitch. I was being a picky bitch on the phone, too, and I think that really helped them sell us at ALMOST 5k under MSRP. It was like, 4800. And about 2500 under fair market value! Haha, which is funny because I called the Killeen dealership and said "Look, Austin is quoting me this much .Waco too. What are you going to quote me?"

And they responded, "You're not going to get 5,000 under MSRP for this car."

I was like, "Alright. Bye!"

Maybe we didn't get a full 5,000. But we sure as hell got close enough! Josh even said having me on the phone was a good thing because it made it appear like "Well, I want to buy the car but my wife isn't happy. So I won't." and when the wife isn't happy... they don't get the sale. Haha!

We are happy!!!! It's so beautiful!!!!

I said to Josh just now: "I hope you don't have buyer's remorse..." and he said, "You know what I thought I might, because it's certainly not cheap, but... I don't. I'm really happy with this car."

It will be an amazing family car. :)

Seriously... it's such a nice, COMFORTABLE car. And luxurious! Lol. He was like, I'm looking forward to the Disney drive!!! Oh my goodness... I am too. I am too!

So now we are the official owners of the 2016 Toyota Highlander Limited Platinum. :) We turned lemons into lemonade!

The panoramic moon roof is so amazing!!!

Guys, this car is crazy!!!

So much ROOOM!!!

I LOVE the glowy blue illumination entry lights!! Oh it's so pretty!

It's sooo nice on the inside! Damn!!

The moon roof is so big it is practically the whole ceiling lol.

                                       
                                                  Cam is so amazed and impressed Lol!

Isn't it so pretty?! :) 

I love you car. I mean, I love you Josh! I love you everybody!!! Lol. Most importantly... I am no longer a caged bird. We can get outta the house and DO stuff and see other, real humans!

And here are some other photos from our past week inside prison. I mean, staying at home.

Alice in her Tinkerbell nightie lol. 

Hello Cam-a-lam-a-ding-dong! Lol. 

Mommy's being so funny. Lol.

MOOOM she's not sharing the chair!

Lol I love her eyes!

And she's all ready to meet Jack, maybe! She will probably be too scared of him lol. 

Cam the model!

Oh, she loves her little guys.

I said to Josh "Aren't these deer so cute?!?!?!"
He's like Um, sure? LOL.
Excuse me for being super excited about getting these deer for $1.50 from the thrift store. I spray painted them white because they were a really ugly bronzey brown. I thought white was more Christmassy, obviously! Now I just need some candlesticks for them!
Well I LOVE them Josh, so there! Lol. Not too shabby for a DIY quick holiday fix! 

Dear Santa... what is the trade in value of a little sister? She drives me crazy...

If I can't get 500 tsum tsums for her, at least put her on the Naughty list.
Sincerely,
Camilla Blake

Lol she loves to take selfies.

Cam loves to put her tsum tsums all over me! Lol. 

Annnnnnndddd YAY WE HAVE ANOTHER CAR. WHAT A RELIEF!!!