Build-a-Bear

Auntie Kristin, Uncle Rick, Olivia, and Owen recently gave Madelyn a gift certificate for Build-a-Bear, which was one of the top items on Madelyn's birthday list! Madelyn was SUPER excited to finally build her own bear (or puppy, as it turned out)!

Madelyn chose a golden retriever (go figure)! 

She named her Julia.

Then she stuffed her so she'd be nice and snuggly.

Then she added friendship, love, and kindness.

Time to warm her heart...

...and put it by her ear so she will listen to all her secrets.

Now it's time to add the heart.

And give her a bath!

Then brush her fur.

Dressed and ready to go!

Selfies

I often find these little gems on my phone, and decided I really should start sharing them…

OMG

I think that's I all need to write for this post. OMG.

When we went to Disneyland two years ago, Madelyn begged and begged (and then begged a little more) to get a princess makeover. But we saw some of those little girls and decided a firm "No" was in order.

This year, we decided it might make a good birthday present. I wasn't feeling overly excited about the idea, but Chris and I discussed it and decided it was something she REALLY wanted to do, and she was at an age where it wasn't too big a deal. Or so I thought. :(

Chris also made me promise not to be my usual self… the mom who knows exactly how to convince Madelyn of what she wants. Yep. That's me. ;) But, reluctantly, I promised I would let her choose what she wanted and that would be that. So here it is… my sweet little Madelyn getting a Disney Princess makeover. I apologize in advance because these images will forever be burned into your brain.

Before… and seriously, looking perfect.

Chris insisted on the huge package, so even though we brought
Madelyn's Belle gown made by Grammy, she also got to
pick out another gown to bring home. She chose Ariel.

OMG

WTH

Off to the princesses we go!
Let's hope we don't give them a heart attack with all this hair!

Seriously. Look at the height on this hair!

After she met all the princesses, she changed into her Ariel dress because quite honestly, I think she was miserable and thought it might get better. It did not. We walked around a bit, and had lunch, and eventually I convinced her to take out the hair piece. Thank Heavens! I was really to have my very own 6-year-old meltdown. But seriously, I could tell she was not herself (how could one be themselves with that heaping pile of hair, and a gallon of hairspray). Once we got her into normal clothes, it was like flipping a switch, and Madelyn was back. POOF! Thank you, fairy godmother.

Her hair was so stuck that this was the best I could do with it. A unicorn.
But she really was back to herself, so what did I care!?!

She certainly couldn't have done this with all that princessey hair.

I love you, Madelyn. But I hope you never ask to do that again. It was awful.
My answer will likely be no. Or I will stick with my original instincts and let you only get a bun. ;)

Rides!

As part of the Disney PhotoPass+ package, we got the photo from any ride that took action shots. Looking at them now makes me laugh so hard because you'll quickly see the progression and how many times before Madelyn actually "showed up" in the pictures!

This is Madelyn's first ride on Space Mountain! She loved it!
Too bad for the mop head.

She wanted to get right back on the ride to try it again!

More mop head...

This was Madelyn's first (and probably last) ride on Tower of Terror.
Riding this ride was her idea, by the way, and definitely not one of our
better parenting moments. But we all survived (Chris and I actually loved it.)
In case you can't see her, she's grabbing onto my leg in the upper left corner. 

This was the ride I was looking forward to the most!
Oops! Where's Madelyn?

She begged to ride Space Mountain for the third time and we were glad we did!
We can finally see her!

Fortunately, the picture lady at the Racers told us where to
sit the next time so we would see Madelyn. Madelyn did NOT want to sit in the middle,
but once she saw the picture she was super glad she did! Score!

Disney California Adventure (DCA)

DAY 1

(click a picture to enlarge it)

DAY 3