What is really going on?

Okay...I understand that I live in the land of many malls. I say this because I have options, you know Hulen, Ridgmar, and North East. Now these are just the "close" malls. So when I go home to Amarillo I try to only have a few items left on my list. You know things that I can find at common places or a very small mall. Some of the things that I may leave for good old A-town would be Walmart, Target, or even Old Navy. I will have to say that Amarillo is growing and has gained many new stores, however I don't like to chance my last minute items (please laugh...due to the fact that I am not chancing last minute items) and wonder if that store is in Amarillo. According to my sister it is a below average mall. The main stores are Dillard's, JCPenny's, and Sears. Yes those are the main stores! Then you have a few run of the mill mall stores such as American Eagle, Gymboree, Bath and Body...ect! Okay at this point you may wonder why I am telling you all about Amarillo and the mall.

When I run into random things in "my" mall it seems crazy, but when it has made way to Amarillo that is a problem!!! As my sister and I were out running errands it was to my AMAZEMENT what the Amarillo mall now has. Yes....it is something you would (again) not normally see in the mall. Here in Amarillo, you wont get your fat lazered out instead you can get your TEETH WHITENED!! That's right head on over to the mall and get them cleaned up real good. It is located right there in the middle of the mall, literally. You see it is very nice! There are even four reclining chairs you can sit back and relax in while being whitened. Each chair is surrounded by partitions for your privacy. It is also a very well lit area so that you can really see the change you have just made to your teeth. (Luckily this time I had my new camera!!)

Located right in the heart of the mall.

Amazing in only 15 minutes!!

See the nice dividers?

Look at that clean (white makes everything cleaner) relaxing chair!

While your family is out grabbing a few items, you can just get a whiting session done. This way you don't waste an extra trip to the certified dentist or on gas. If you are needing this service done I really recommend the Amarillo mall. I walked by it about 4 times today and it seems very sterile (The worker and her boyfriend were eating there Taco Bell dinner at the counter). Not only is clean, everyone in the mall can watch. I have often wanted to see food and other particles being removed from a person mouth while out shopping.

This is where I have to ask, WHAT IS GOING ON? Are all the malls that hard up for money? Are these things that people really need in a mall? I am just puzzled about these crazy services we are seeing in our malls. Please tell me what other random stuff can they move it to the middle of a mall?

Disney Pictures! Rock On!!!

Here are a few of the many....enjoy! I will up load more later!

Can you see Brian and E....oh wait Brian is covering her so she wont get wet! Too funny

SNOW, HOT COCO, and MORE!

This morning we woke to wonderful snow falling out side. Little B, Brian and I enjoyed watching the flakes fall. They started small and by the time Little Bear woke they were very large. Of course even the smallest amount of snow brings us out side....you know this is our only chance to get it. So we dressed everyone up, pj's, sweaters, jackets, and hats and off we went. Little B loved it, his first "real" snow that he has been active in. Look at the sweet faces!

Christmas time

I wanted to upload a few pictures of our Christmas festivities. I have some from our cookie making, preparing for Santa, Christmas morning and more. These are just few of my favorites, enjoy!

Making cookies at Grandpa's house!

Night before Santa!!! Checking the computer to see where he is; and leaving her note!

Christmas Morning! Look what fun stuff Santa left us....

Yes it is Samantha! Way to go Santa!!

As Little E would say.....This is the best Christmas Ever!!!

Christmas with Grandma too!!Merry Christmas!

The Magical World Part 4 of 4....FINALLY!

Well here are the last pieces of Disney....I know you may be wondering why no pics? Well here is the deal as stated earlier Abby's computer is very S L O W. This slowness makes my posting very long and drawn out. Then we tried to download and upload to my computer, however NO LUCK! Maybe one day you will see the pictures but at least you get the final details for now.

Part 4:

Monday: Animal Kingdom here we come. This is the day we devoted to Animal Kingdom and the animals it holds. This of course would turn out to be E's biggest day ride wise....we will get there in a minute. Per all our books (my sister read many for the helpful hints) we rushed right in and did the safari ride. The ride was wonderful and turned out to be B's favorite thing. He loved looking out at the animals. We saw many the best was of an elephant mom and her baby. This ride was so wonderful we did it 2 times (first thing and last). Now that we got that taken care of we caught a show about all the many birds. They flew around and beside us, again catching B's attention. Off to the rides we headed....well the newest ride Expedition Everest was a wait. So we fast passed it, and then took a closer look. The view was a bit scary. You look at a huge mountain (Everest) and then all you see is a train come flying down and around. Many people large and small are heading in. E and Brian both really wanted to ride it. Auntie and mommy....not so much. So Abby and I took one for the team and did the first run! Off to the big scary ride we go...and well we walked off telling Brian that we didn't think E should really ride it. He of course didn't believe us so off he and Abby went to ride. After the ride he really felt as though she would be okay to do it. So we fast passed it again, however our wait was about and hour. Off to lunch we went.

After lunch E and Brian headed up the mountain to ride the BIG ride. As Abby and I watched we both were so nervous. All you see is people flying down and screaming...then to think we let that sweet little E go one this. So we waited, and saw her and Brian fly bye. Then we ran inside to see their picture...of course Brian was holding on to E so good all you saw was his arm covering her. Then they walked off the ride, Little Bear's face was happy yet nervous. She said she had a wonderful time but doesn't think she will do it again! We were so proud of her for trying, and still to this day says it was her favorite. The rest of the day we enjoyed Animal Kingdom and caught the parade to end our day. I mean really what would a day be with out a parade!


Tuesday: OUR FINAL DAY!!!

Well we wanted to check out Magic Kingdom for the last time on our LAST day. We woke up made sure all things were packed and headed out. For our last day we let E pick all the things we were to do. Of course she wanted to ride the "Barn Yard" ride...the Toon Town roller coaster. Then we head off to the Thunder Mountain, her very favorite. Abby, Brian, and E all road this together while Little B and I hung back. We took full advantage of the Ride Switch (where if you are with a younger child you ask for a ride switch pass...then when your riders finish you can walk right up to ride) They rode as normal but after it were given FAST PASS for the day. Sure yeah great, but not on the day we are only there till Noon!!! We took full advantage of all the fast passes we could with the little time we had. After riding all that we could we headed back to Main St. We did some last minute shopping and snack buying. Saddened to leave we had to jump back on the boat to head home. We were all very sad to leave the Magical land and head back to the real world.


The trip was AMAZING, truly! I wouldn't have changed a thing or missed it for a moment. I really think the trip wouldn't have been as wonderful if my sister had not planned it out. She had it down to the meal and it ran so smoothly. Honestly if you are heading to Disney anytime soon, call her up for tips!

The Magical World Part 3 1/2 of 4

WOW! Part 3 1/2 of 4! Well it is going to be tough to get the last 3 days in one blog so here is 3 1/2!!


Part 3 1/2:


Sunday was another EARLY DAY! Little Bear had to be up and ready to go for her big date at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. She picked her pink princess dress, which was good because it was the coldest day. This dress has longer sleeves on it, so a little warmer! Well off we went to get her hair done by the Fairy Godmother. E was very serious the entire time. She sat in the pretty chair and did as was asked. Abby, Brian, B, and I all watched in wonder. We had no idea her hair could do these things. (You know we are very careful with her hair, but the Fairy Godmother she did as she wanted. She obviously didn't realize E's hair falls out easily due to her alopecia) Her hair was pulled back in to a pony tail....and then braided! Yes braided, it was a rather long braid too. Then the fun came, when they added the fake hair. This is the hair that really got style up and such. So in the end E walked away with a wonderful UP DO, make-up, and her nails done. Oh and did I mention FAIRY DUST....tons of Fairy Dust everywhere (aka glitter). So much fairy dust that everyone was covered by the end of the day!

Now that she was all dolled up we thought we would try and "wake" Tinkerbell. However, there was this really hateful lady beside us who drug her daughter in front of E. So E didn't get to "wake" Tinkerbell. We watched as this other girl did it, and the grandmother felt very awful that E didn't get to do it because it was her birthday.


Next we headed to Hollywood Studios (aka MGM). We road a few of the rides and saw a couple of shows. E loved the High School Musical 3 Parade. She danced and watched as they performed. Then we did lunch at Pizza Planet, you know from Toy Story. It was great! From there we had to head back because it was dinner with Mickey...


Dinner was at Chief Mickey...Man oh man did we have a great time there. E got to see all the gang; Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. She loved every second of it, plus they had great desserts there. Everything that could be made into Mickey ears were...aka pasta noodles, cookies and more. After dinner we had tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. This was loads of fun. It was at the Magic Kingdom and Santa was there. We took our normal family picture with Santa and headed in for Hot Coco. The Christmas party was wonderful and on one of our cooler nights (making it feel more Christmas like). Main street has snow falling (okay bubble snow, but snow), there were carolers singing, and a parade to top it off. E and B both loved the parade. It was another "magical" night at Disney.

Ready for Santa....

Abby, Little Bear, Little Monkey, and I have all made our way to Amarillo. We arrived at my parents on Sunday evening, to find it pretty cold here. It wouldn't be Christmas if it wasn't COLD and WINDY!!!! We have spent the last couple of days buying last minute gifts and wrapping them up. This year Christmas for our family will be a little different. You see my grandparents have not been doing well this year. So this will be our first Christmas with my grandmother....not at home. In March we were sad to have to place her in a nursing home (her place is very wonderful) due to her Alzheimer's. Also my grandfather has been in a rehab hospital for the past 2 weeks; however we were able to bring him home today. Now that grandpa is home; we tried to carry on some of our traditions. Off to grandpas' house we headed for COOKIE MAKING!!!!

You see since I have been oh gosh a baby we have always made cookies with my grandparents. Normally grandma makes the dough the night before, we show up, bake our hearts out, and decorate... Well with things changing a bit we still went over for baking and decorating. Grandpa was home for the event; and he enjoyed all of it especially eating the cookies. Brian made some very nice looking ones...and Little Bear. This year was loads of fun for her, she couldn't wait. The past couple of years she has just hung out for about 20 minutes of fun, not today. She stayed all the way through....and most of all loved the decorating part. What kid wouldn't love using icing and sprinkles? Well she LOVED it...her exact quote was "This is the best Christmas yet..."

So back home we are now, awaiting SANTA! Little Bear has made another "note" for Santa just in case he forgets what she wanted. You see she really wants Samantha (the American Girl), however she has been discontinued. Little Bear is a little worried he may bring the wrong girl, so she really wanted to make sure he KNEW! Also she would like last years model of the double stroller from American Girl. (Another item that is no longer sold....grrrr) She has the cookies on the plate and milk ready to go. We have just checked the computer (http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html) and Santa is currently in Cape Verda....so we must eat quickly before he heads our way.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy the day, the family time, and the memories!
Merry Christmas everyone!!

P.S. Still working on the pics for Disney, Abby's computer was toooooooo slow on uploading. Looks like it may still be a week away, sorry.

Feeling a little fat, just run the mall!

Okay so on Sunday I was out shopping with a friend. We were of course amongst the thousands (no kidding) at the mall on this day. If you know me, then you know I really dislike shopping. I blame this on my mother...we never shopped as children, therefore it was not learned. Well any ways another reason I hate the mall are the people who attack you with their product in the middle. You know who I am talking about.... "Mama mama do you have real nails?", "Excuse me smell this beautiful fragrance." Okay they make me crazy, I run from these people.

Well on this particular day, after running from the sales people in the middle, I saw the worse thing ever. Low and behold in the middle of the mall there is a rather large woman laying on a table. Not just any table, but one that would normally be in the DR's Office!! Here she is laying down, with her shirt raised to just below her bra and her pants pulled down to the hips(yes, shirt up and pants down). Yes she is showing her entire stomach to the thousand of shoppers. You may be wondering why at this point. Well now they are doing laser fat treatments in the middle of the mall. No need to call the DR, just walk out of the Gap and have a treatment. So as we all pass by and GASP...the nice Dr looking (I say looking because what Dr would really do this in the mall) person beginnings to run the laser wand over her stomach causing all fat to push up, down, back, and around. REALLY, REALLY am I seeing this in the MIDDLE OF THE MALL? YES....who does this? What person wants all their fat being rubbed in the middle of the mall; and at the busiest shopping time all year. Well if you happen to North East Mall in the next couple of days go ahead and TREAT YOURSELF to a treatment while your there. They are stationed right in front of the gap, by the wanna be Build a Bear!

The Magical World Update

Okay so I have almost finished the Magical World Updates...but I realized I NEED PICTURES!! Well I don't mean to harp on this, but Disney requires pictures. As I typed the last part of my magical post, I kept putting picture to come. Then I thought to myself this is crazy! So I have the post almost ready (minus pictures), and my sister will be here on Saturday. (My wonderful sister is going to bring me all the pics on cd since there are so many. I think it would take forever to email over 1200 pictures!) Therefore, the final Disney post will be up and running sometime after Saturday. Sorry for the delay but I think you will find it is worth the wait. Check back soon!!!

Contreras Christmas Party!!

Christmas Party fun. Last night was my school's Christmas party. We had a great time and loads of laughs. It was a pretty simple party, we had dinner, drank, and exchanged white elephant gifts. Fun, fun, fun! I have a few pictures from the evening!