On January 17, we celebrated Bryan's 31st birthday! We had a nice evening together. I made a chicken and stuffing casserole that he likes and some peach cobbler.
Bryan's presents: DVDs and a CD, pretty typical!
On January 15, Eli turned 4 years old!
For Eli's birthday, Eli, Silas, their friend Will and his mom, Bethany, and I went to the movies! It was Eli's and Silas's first movie theater experience. We saw the newest VeggieTales movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. The boys loved it! We let them eat popcorn, pop, and candy, and they sat still in their seats the entire time! It was a matinee, and we were the only people (plus one older gentleman who sat a few rows behind us) so we felt like we had the theater to ourselves! After the initial "Wow, this is dark and scary!" and "Look at that HUGE TV!!" they settled down and enjoyed a great show.
During the credits, the boys got up and danced to the music. It was pretty funny.
When Daddy got home from work, we had one of Eli's favorite suppers...pizza! Then he got to open his presents. Eli got a new DVD, Curious George! (Which is now one of their favorites!)
Go, Diego Go! Rescue Pack!
So excited to see what else he got! (A stuffed bear and a book, not as exciting as he thought).
But throwing the tissue paper is fun!
Eli went to the store with me and picked out this cake (he prefers white cake with white frosting). Then he wanted me to decorate it with black icing. That ball on the top is supposed to be the planet Jupiter (Eli's request). I kinda ran out of room. Cake decorating is not my forte.
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!"
At school the next day, Eli got to be the special birthday boy!
My special breakfast made by Chef Bryan.
My presents
Bryan got a babysitter for the boys and took me out to eat at The Melting Pot, a delicious fondue restaurant (that we reserve for only very special occasions).
Our complimentary dessert.
It was a low-key but celebrative, enjoyable birthday!
In early January, Bryan and I went on a "second honeymoon" to Orlando, Florida! We had a great trip. The weather was warm enough during the day for shorts and t-shirts and comfortably cool at night. We also had a couple of short thunderstorms. Bryan's parents and sister Rachel so graciously watched the boys for us. We were there for 3 full days, and tried to keep it cheap (the flights were free from a JCPenney's promotion, our hotel was discounted if we went to a timeshare talk, and we got free tickets to Disney World from the timeshare and to Sea World from our neighbors who work for Anheuser-Busch--thanks Andrew & Bethany!). When we got to our hotel, Bryan asked if they had any "second honeymoon free upgrades," and they put us in the penthouse suite! Our first day there, we spent the morning attending the timeshare talk. Of course the place was beautiful, but we didn't even consider buying anything--we just wanted the discounted trip! At least we got an amazing brunch out of it, and our "tour guide" wasn't too heavy on sales-pressure tactics. After a nap at the hotel, we went to Downtown Disney and went into some shops. We also explored Disney Quest--kind of like a big indoor arcade and virtual reality gaming place. It was fun--Bryan and I played a lot of video games against each other (he won the wrestling/fighting games, I won the shooting games), but going on Aladdin's magic carpet ride made us a little motion sick (it didn't even move--it just felt like it!) We also went to Lego land and took these photos.
We did have a nice lunch out at Cafe Marrakesh in Morocco, complete with live music and a belly dancer! We also ran into Jasmine and Aladdin!
We took this photo for Eli--when he saw it, his eyes got all wide and his jaw dropped, "Can I go there?" We'll have to take the kids there when they're old enough to enjoy it more!
The famous Epcot ball. We had a really fun day. One of my favorite things was listening to a concert of "The Voices of Liberty," a group of 8 very talented acapella singers, in the rotunda area of colonial America. They wore period-style dress and sang patriotic songs. It was amazing!
Our last day we went to Sea World. Here we are modeling our new Christmas presents from my parents--our lovely sunglasses--thanks, Mom and Dad! 
Sea World has some great shows, we really enjoyed the dolphin show, the acrobatics show, and the seal show (the mime was hilarious!). There is also a roller coaster called Kraken, that Bryan and I rode once together, and after I started feeling sick, Bryan rode about 4 more times! The park wasn't too crowded so there was no waiting in lines!
Notice the rainbow and the beautiful sunset.
The grand finale of the evening was, of course, Shamu!
Hopefully we won't wait another 7 years before taking another trip together. We really enjoyed our vacation and each other! :)
Uncle Eric, Aunt Kerrie, and cousins Braden and Sawyer
Aunt Rachel, Grandma Sandra, and Grandpa Jack
Grandma and Grandpa with their 4 grandsons!
Opening presents!
Jack fell asleep during the present-opening (notice the time on the clock is 4:30 in the afternoon...will he make it to watch the ball drop??)
Silas fell asleep, too.
On New Year's Day, the Longstreets, Westras, and Meengs came over and we had the traditional beef curry dinner--yummy! Eli, Silas, Braden (and Dylan, too) had fun jumping on the bed!
"Reading" Grandpa's Bible.
Playing with their new race track!
Bryan and his Grandpa Longstreet playing Silas's new game, "Let's go fishing!" They're still young at heart!
