More shirts finished

My sister came up Friday night, and we were able to knock out a few more shirts. We got her Deathly Hallows/Mickey shirt and Snow White finished, the Castle and Loki for Aimee, and a "MINE! MINE!" seagulls from Nemo for Maddie. I still have to do Lego Princess Leia, Merida and Belle for Cadence, a Jr Woodchuck for Sarah, Robin Hood and Peter Pan for Aimee, and if I get everything else done, Mickey ears for me and Aristocats and Extract of Llama for Amelia. Not sure that I'll get everything finished, but we're going to try. 28 days to go!

Deathly Hallows


Snow White


Castle


Loki


MINE! Seagulls


and being modeled by the cutest 14 month old around!

Even Minnie is counting down!

I'm going to attempt to do a countdown for Disney every day. Here are the results!

35 Days

Minnie is helping paint our new shirts

34 Days

Minnie found some friends to have a tea party with!


33 Days

Hanging around in the bathroom, just waiting for September!


32 Days

She had to watch her main man before getting the day started!


31 Days

Hanging out with her cousins


30 Days

Minnie loves meeting princesses, too!


29 Days

Checking up on Sofia before seeing her in September!


28 Days

Minnie is helping show off the new outfits for the little ones!


27 Days


26 Days


25 Days


24 Days


23 Days


22 Days


21 Days


20 Days


19 Days


18 Days


17 Days


16 Days


15 Days


14 Days


13 Days


12 Days


11 Days


10 Days


9 Days


8 Days


7 Days


6 Days


5 Days


4 Days


3 Days


2 Days


1 Day

Best. Momma. EVER!

This whole trip started because my mom mentioned that she spends tons of money on us for Christmas each year, and she would love to just give us the money and us use it for a family vacation instead. I was over the moon to hear that, then decided to use some money from leaving my old job and pay the entire thing off since we decided to go in September instead of waiting until October like originally planned. She had mentioned that she may make me a "travel kit" for my birthday/christmas instead, and also mentioned clothes. Then, a few days ago she offered to pay for the non-disney hotel we're staying in the first night (which is now booked and will be awesome!), then called today and said she had stuff for us and wanted to bring it up. She showed up with a gift card to Applebee's (the hotel has one attached where kids eat free, and we were already planning to have at least one meal there. The gift card should cover the entire thing), money for the "resort fee" the hotel will charge, an Old Navy gift card for me to get clothes before we go (all my clothes are too big since having Maddie), and a $25 Disney gift card for each girl (we were only planning on giving them $50 each for spending money, so this is half of that!!) We are so incredibly blessed, and I'm so so thankful.

Mike also took me shopping the other day (again, the whole "lost all the baby weight" thing), and I got two new pair of jeans, a pair of capris, crocs ballet flats, and some other "unmentionables" that I needed. I'm loving all my new stuff, and the best part was that all my jeans were the same size I bought before I was pregnant with Cadence! I also used the gift card tonight (yes, I had it a total of 3ish hours before it was spent!) and got two new pairs of shorts and a cute Mickey shirt for the trip. Mike rolled his eyes when I showed him the shirt, but whatever. I don't care. I love it and can't wait for it to arrive!

And I think I'm going to start counting down with the girls tomorrow. I saw this blog that had ideas on how to countdown to Disney in an "Elf on the Shelf" way, only they used Minnie Mouse. We have the same Minnie in red and the black and white version, and since tomorrow makes 35 days out, I thought I'd start then. I don't know that I'll be able to do it every day (and am in awe that she kept it up for 100 days!), but I'm definitely going to try! I'll try to get a picture every day that I remember!

Disney Arts and Crafts

We have been doing a lot of Disney related crafts recently, and I have to share them! This post is all clothes, but I'll do another with the autograph pillowcases and the bottles as soon as I have them finished. But for now, CLOTHES!

The thing I've had the most fun with is tshirts. I used the same freezer paper tutorial I used on the Jeep shirt, but made sure to have matte paint this time. They are working out beautifully, and I've gotten carried away making them.

Here are the ones that are finished so far:


Hitchhiking Ghosts (mine)



The Tightrope Walker from the Haunted Mansion (mine)
I'm planning on putting some kind of frame around this one



Aurora and Maleficent (mine)



Nemo (Amelia)



Beauty and the Beast Rose (Amelia)



Perry Fedora (Cadence)



Max as Powerline from A Goofy Movie (my sister)
In cast you need more:




Tom Selleck from Meet the Robinsons (my sister)
Again, more:



And here are the clothes that my AMAZING friend Jamie made for the little ones:


Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday Dress


Snow White Tunic (it will have yellow leggings under it)

  
Minnie Mouse Pillowcase Dresses


And last, the other clothes:


The new nightgown Aunt Sarah bought. It's "Roar-Ra!!" and she is VERY excited to have it!

  
Snow White and Cinderella from MamMaw

I have more tshirts coming, plus Ariel Rompers and an adorable Alice dress! I can't wait, and will have those pictures up soon. 39 days to go!!

My Disney Obsession

Ok, I admit it. I'm obsessed.

There, happy? I said it. I don't just like Disney. I ADORE Disney. I just like vacations there. I obsessively count down to the and plan out all the details. I don't just go visit the parks. I visit, have outfits for my kids, and know all the new attractions that are open. And I will admit that this trip is no different. So far our schedule is as follows:

Saturday
Drive to Orlando, spend the night somewhere offsite. Hoping to get there by 7pm or so, but no clue if it will actually happen with three small children.

Sunday
Check in to Coronado Springs, and hopefully be in Magic Kingdom by 10am.
Take Maddie to get her first haircut at 1 at Harmony Barber Shop, Sarah and Aimee will take the two big ones to become Mermaids or Pirates at the Pirates League.
Dinner that night at Chef Mickey's

Monday
Breakfast with Alice and Mary Poppins at 1900 Park Fare
Animal Kingdom until it closes
Probably either the Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, Polynesian to watch the Electrical Water Pageant, or a movie at one of the outdoor movie areas that night.

Tuesday
Hollywood Studios with Sarah and Aimee until they have to leave
Lunch at Mama Melrose
Either hang out at Hollywood Studios awhile longer, or do one of the after hour things above. Maybe the pool at Coronado Springs

Wednesday
Epcot all day, with dinner at Teppan Edo

Thursday
Whichever park the girls want to revisit, and dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. I'm sure we'll spend time looking around Wilderness Lodge while we're there.

Friday
Whichever park the girls want to visit for one final hurrah, then head home.
Listen to fighting and disappointment for 12 hours. Probably cry.

Since we'll have little ones, I've tried to make sure there is downtime in there. I've also intentionally not done park hoppers this trip because it makes us have to pick a place and stay, and because (per Mike) I'm trying not to over plan us. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean I can't plan outfits and car ride activities and make pillowcases for autographs and whatever else my little heart desires!! More on those projects to come!

The offers are rolling in!

Happy birthday to me!! A few years ago I signed up on a bunch of sites for my birthday, because I love freebies. For the last two weeks the special birthday deals have been coming in, so here's this year's list of what I got in my email box!

Food:
Sonic - Free medium tots, 14oz cream slush or medium soft drink
Baskin Robbins - Free scoop or swirl
Ruby Tuesday - Free birthday dessert
Back Yard Burgers - Free cobbler with purchase
O'Charley's - $5 off a $20 purchase
Arby's - Free 12oz shake with purchase
IHOP - Free Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
McAlister's - $5 off next purchase
Schlotzsky's - Free small sandwich or pizza
Newks - Free Entree and drink

Other:
Macy's - Free shipping on my next purchase
Disney Movie Rewards - 100 bonus points
Brooks Running - Free technical running shirt and free shipping with $75 purchase
Swag Bucks - 50 Swag Bucks
Charm It - 15% off


And since I signed up right around my birthday, a lot of these places are also sending me Anniversary offers. Here are those!

Dairy Queen - BOGO medium blizzard
Marble Slab - BOGO Shake
Arby's - Free Classic Roast Beef Sandwich
Schlotzsky's - Free 32oz drink
Disney Movie Rewards - 50 bonus points

Overall a pretty good haul! I won't be able to use all of them, but I've enjoyed trying!

*hangs head in shame*

Hi there. Again. I'm here, and starting to get a little bit of sleep, and we have so much going on. I'll try to make this short and sweet! (who am I kidding!)

• IT'S SUMMER!
Cadence is loving being home, and the only issue the little ones are having is that the sun is still up when they head to bed. We don't have any major trips planned, but it's been nice to throw them in shorts, tshirts and flip flops (or barefoot for the two little ones) and not have to worry about it. Cadence will start school first week of August, so next week summer vacation will be half over. I don't think I'll mention that to her any time soon. ;)

• I'm trying to get hot!
Tonight starts day one of me starting P90. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, or if it will kick my butt, but I'm excited to try! I don't really want to lose weight, but just tone up a little. Let's hope it doesn't kill me too much. And I'll try not to drive you crazy with P90 updates.

• Mike and I both have new jobs!
Both of our jobs were driving us insane and were very unhealthy for us (I lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks, wasn't eating, wasn't sleeping, and was being super cranky mom to the girls), and so on March 26 (yes, the Tuesday before Easter) I walked out. Mike left CarMax the next day (he at least gave 2 weeks.) I had another job waiting which is closer to home, smaller, less stress and I'm making more money. Mike is working with a friend of his doing windshield repair, and he's even happier than I am. I didn't realize how stressed and awful things for both of us were until we weren't dealing with it anymore. Things are MUCH MUCH better.

• WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!
This is the one I'm most excited about!! We will be there from Sept 8-13, and we're staying at Cornado Springs. It's for Amelia and Cadence's birthday, and our trip with overlap with Sarah's!! We are trying to do this as economically as possible, so I have tons of ideas that we're going to try and get finished in the next 72 days. And I'll apologize now that this is about to become Disney Craft Central! :) I'm beyond excited about getting to go!!!!

I'm not going to promise to update more often, but I'll try. But I say that a lot, so we'll see!

Yeah, so I suck at this

It's amazing how little time I have now with three little ones around. We've mostly settled into a routine at night, but by the time they are all out, it's then time for me to clean up and get myself to bed, and usually one of the little ones is back awake again! Anyway, I'm here. For now, at least!

We're all doing ok, and trying to get over the funk. Maddie is on antibiotics for a double ear infection, I'm on them for a sinus infection, and I was told today that Amelia has been pulling and digging in her ear. I foresee another doctor's appointment in my future.

So, tonight the girls and I were at Target looking for a baby gift for my cousin, Jennifer. She's about to have her second baby - a sweetsie little boy who will be the first on that side of the in years!! I wanted to get her something that she probably wouldn't get from anyone else, would be useful, and something that she probably wouldn't buy herself. One of my favorite gifts from Amelia's shower was this awesome drying rack by Boon. It has been so helpful, and since I was nursing and wouldn't really need bottles except at the sitter, I could also use it for medicine droppers, pump parts, and sippy cup straws. I'm hoping that Jennifer loves it as much as I do, because we got her one, too. I also got her the Twig, and came VERY close to picking it up for myself. I'm glad I didn't, because I saw the Stem when I got on their site when I got home. It's a purple flower!! A cute purple flower to go with my awesome drying rack that looks like grass! If I can find it at Target, I'm definitely getting it!

I'm also on the lookout for baby shower cupcake ideas. I'm taking some for a shower at work next week, and I want them to be perfect! I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but the girl they are for has assured me that she adores cupcakes - any kind - so she will be thrilled with whatever I bring. Right now I'm leaning toward marshmallow flowers on top, but with blue sugar. I'll try to remember to post pictures when I decide!

I think I hear the little one up (again!), so I'll try to remember to come back before 3 months has passed!

Birthday Freebies are coming in!!

Last year I decided to sign up for a lot of freebie things for my birthday, and was so happy when a week ago they started coming in again for this year. I also received some freebie things from the companies for signing up, and this past week I started getting "anniversary deals" in my email box as well. Here's this year's list of freebies!

Birthday:

• Marble Slab - free small cone
• Dairy Queen - BOGO Free Blizzard
• Sonic - free medium Tots, a regular CreamSlush^® Treat, or medium Soft Drink
• Baskin Robbins - Free scoop
• Backyard Burgers - Free Cobbler
• Ruby Tuesday - Free Burger
• Schlotzsky's Deli - Free small sandwich or pizza
• McAlister's Deli - $5 off next purchase
• Arby's - Free small shake
• Chili's - Free Brownie Sundae 
• IHOP - Free Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
• Disney Movie Rewards - 100 points

e-club Anniversary:

• Cheddar's - Free chips and queso
• Dairy Queen - BOGO Free Blizzard
• Marble Slab - BOGO Free Shake
• Arby - Free Roast Beef Sandwich
• Chili's - Free Appetizer

Updates and Kids books

I could really get used to this "stay at home mom" thing. I've been able to take Cadence to camp, went with Amelia to Baby Bookworms at the library today, have had time to take care of little things, and of course, hang out with Maddie. Tomorrow I have my six week checkup, and it's reminding me that I don't have much more "stay at home" time left. That sucks. It's necessary, but it still sucks. Makes me really wish we were very very wealthy and I didn't have to worry about it! ;)

Cadence started Girl Scout camp yesterday, and seems to be having a blast. She's coming home really tired (even though she'd never admit it), and I'm worried that she won't be able to get out of bed by the end of the week! She's brought home photos of her artwork the last two days, and I can't wait to see the art show at the end of the week.

Amelia has FINALLY warmed up at Baby Bookworms, and actually interacted some today (and, of course, it was the last day of the summer session. It continues through the year, though.) She also "read" more than enough books for the summer reading program. She needed 20, and I think we ended with closer to 50. Her entire sheet was filled, and I've discovered some really great kid books in the process. Some of my favorites:

The Baby Lit series A beautiful series of board books based on classic literature. So far we've read Alice in Wonderland (colors), Jane Eyre (numbers) and Pride and Prejudice (numbers.) There's also Romeo and Juliet and Dracula (both numbers) and A Christmas Carol (colors.) I love the Alice in Wonderland one so much that I'm tempted to buy it, tear it apart, and use the board book pages as the artwork in Amelia's room. They are that beautiful. Amelia adores Pride and Prejudice (she's carried it around all day while hugging it and saying "MINE!!") and Alice in Wonderland (she's insisted on checking it out of the library twice because she's seen it on the display and had to have it), and I'm pretty sure I know what she'll be getting for Christmas. 


The Boy Who Cried Ninja This book is absolutely hilarious, and seriously, how can you go wrong with a book that contains ninjas, pirates and a time traveling monkey?? It is a funny story about how a boy's parents don't believe him when he says ninjas (and other various exceptional creatures) do different naughty things around the house, but he can't lie because that gets him in trouble as well. The end is great, and Cadence laughed all the way through this one.


Robot Zombie Frankenstein The title alone was enough to make me want to check this one out, and I wasn't disappointed at all. It's two robots trying to outdo each other by making themselves into bigger and crazier things, and it includes pie. Cadence thought it was funny, but with all the zombie craze at the moment, I think I found it funnier than she did. The illustrations are bright and colorful (and kept Amelia's attention), and the words are simple and very effective. Awesome book!


Dinosaur vs. The Library  Dinosaur is on his way to the library, and challenges all his friends along the way. His huge ROAR allows him to win against everyone - except the librarian. This is a great book to introduce animal sounds, and to talk about inside/outside voices. Again, very bright pictures, and it's mostly animal sounds so very easy for toddlers to follow along. And seeing Amelia "ROARRRRRR!" with him was well worth it! And I just realized that they also have Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, Dinosaur vs. The Potty and in September, Dinosaur vs. Santa. I'm very excited.

I also LOVE the Bink and Gollie books that Cadence has been reading. There are only two out at the moment, but she devoured both of them and is (not so) patiently waiting for more to appear. I'm on the lookout for more books like that for her, so if anyone knows of any, please share! And thanks to Bink and Gollie, Cadence met her reading goal for the library as well. The end of year carnival is Thursday, and I'm glad we were able to stick with it and both girls finished the program.

Books 17-19 of 24

This should catch me up with the ones I've read, and I'm only 5 away from my goal! Not bad since I still have over 5 months to go.

17) First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale by Laura Briggs & Sarah Steinbrenner

I enjoyed this book, but it took a little while to get into it. The book starts out explaining a lot of back story, so it took a little while to piece it all together. But once the story got going, it was excellent. I really enjoy reading different variations of the most popular fairy tales, and this was a great twist on Snow White. I also started reading it while I was watching Once Upon A Time, and there are similarities. I was impressed with this one, and have started the second book in the series which is about Hansel and Gretel. There is also a third about the Fairy Godmother. I'm eager to see the twists that they put on these as well.

I gave this 4 books

18) The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker

This was a really dark Christian fiction book about a guy who sees his mom and sisters raped and murdered while living in Bosnia, and he then kills their killer. He comes to the US as a priest, but does more than just help in church. He also tracks down the scum of the earth and takes them out. It was more graphic than what one would usually expect from Christian fiction, but I really enjoyed it. It went into some dark topics, and did a great job covering them and making a completely believable story from them. I've missed having new Ted Dekker, and have two more sitting in my "to read" pile. I really hope they are as good as this one was.

I gave this 4 books

19) The Film Club by David Gilmour

Somewhat depressing, but so so so good. It's a story of a guy who has a son that is getting in trouble in school, and he lets him drop out on the promise that he'll watch at least 3 movies a week with his dad. It covers the movies they watched, what was going on in their lives during this time (the good and the bad), and was a great parent/child story. A lot of things his son said and did reminded me of Cadence, and I just hope to be as understanding and loving if (or when) we face hard teenage years. It was excellent, and I'm so glad that I picked it up on a whim at the library the other day.

I gave this one 5 books.

Cadence has a blog!

I've helped Cadence set up a blog, hoping that by having a "cool" place to write things down, maybe it will help with her temper. I'm going to try my best to not give her ideas or take it over for her, and I have a feeling she may post more than I do!

If you want to visit, she has her first post up. She has decided to call it "A Made-Up Fairy Tale," and I know would love for people to visit.

Want ALL the crayons!

The girls and I spent about 2 hours wandering around Target today, and I found the coolest things. Crayola now has a set out that is exclusive to Target called "Pick Your Pack." You choose a box to hold your crayons that you can decorate yourself, and then you pick and choose from 8 count packs that have different themes. Some of the options are "Cupcake My Day," "Glitterati," "Sports Fan," and "Pirate Treasure." I will admit, I want them all. And I won't even pretend they are for the girls. They would totally be all for me.

Images are from Target.com

Books 4-7

Here are the most recent that I've read, and what I think about them.

4) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

There were parts of this book that I really really enjoyed, but a lot more that were just "meh." It was set in Sweden, and I know that had something to do with the parts I didn't enjoy that much - if it had been a place I was more familiar with, the landmarks and other situations would have made more sense. Also, most of the beginning and end deal with finance/journalism, and I really don't have much interest in either. And the other thing that threw me off was all of the casual sex. It wasn't graphic, and usually sex/violence/language don't bother me. But there was just SO MUCH sex, and a lot seemed thrown in there for no reason.

However, there was a murder mystery in the middle that I found VERY intriguing. It was by far my favorite part of the book, and I was actually disappointed when that was wrapped up and there was still about 1/4 of the book left. I made it through the rest, and I have book two here waiting, but can't bring myself to start it quite yet. Overall it wasn't awful, but it definitely wasn't the best book I've read recently.

I give it 3 books.








5) Snow White and the Seven Dead Dwarves: A Zombie Fairy Tale by Bob McLain

Oh. My. Goodness. This book was written by a guy who loves Disney stories and zombies. He started with the awesome story of Snow White, took it back to it's gruesome roots, then threw in a few Disney-like twists. It was very quick, and I loved it. It's definitely not high brow reading, but it was definitely fun, and a great way to spend the time while I was waiting on Cadence at the dentist. He is supposed to be releasing a full length novel called "Once Upon A Zombie," a story about zombies taking over the rest of Fairy Tale Land, and I can't wait until it comes out.

I give this one 5 books.





6) Alice in Deadland by Mainak Dhar

I'm apparently on a zombie kick at the moment, because this one was a combination of Alice in Wonderland and a typical zombie story. It wasn't a direct retelling of the story, and that gave it a nice twist.  I really enjoyed this story, and finished it in one afternoon. There were parts that were predictable, but overall, I enjoyed it.

I give this one 4 books.





7) Mile 81 by Stephen King

This story was very short, and ok. It definitely wasn't a typical Stephen King story, and was pretty predictable, but wasn't awful at all. It was a nice distraction for a Saturday afternoon, but something I'm glad I didn't spend a ton of money on.

I give this one 3 books.