Crafty Creations!

Well, once again the vision in my head turned out okay. I was on Etsy the other day looking at Disney “stuff” and found several very cute Disney shirts. Being the frugal person (on some things) I am…I decided I could make my own. I bought each kiddo a white t-shirt at Wal-mart; they were $3.00 each, bought a yard of black cotton fabric for $1.97 and got to work. I just made some circles, used heat bond to attach them to the shirts…and then added some ribbon. I did do a blanket stitch around the “mouse” heads…Max’s is black so you probably can’t see it…it just makes it look a little more finished.

Maggie already had the jean capri’s….they were actually in the goodwill pile (sorry Jodi S.) they had a big flower embroidered on the leg (right under the Minnie head) so I just covered it up….and added the red and white polka dot ribbon around each leg….I think they are pretty cute. I’m going to make myself and grandma a Minnie shirt too…Daddy says he’ll pass on the shirt (where is his Mickey spirit?) I’m sure Paca (Grandpa) will pass too!

Anyway…I will have made 4 shirts for less than the price of one….pretty cool, I think!
Let me know what you think! Any suggestions would be great!

We got dressed & to the store, I feel good!

Here is our paper chain...our count down to Disney. Thanks again Nicole for the great idea. Max is feeling better as you can see by his smile. Yes, he has underwear on and No, he is not grabbing himself...just looks that way.


We want to send a birthday wish to Marci today. Hope you are having a some-what-good birthday. Keep me posted on the happenings in OH. Take care my friend.

Uneventful Day!

Well, today was pretty uneventful...it was a cold and rainy day, a day when you stay in your jammies all day, curled up with a big mug of coffee and a great book. After your book, you might watch a "LIFETIME" movie and eat a cup of soup, all while snuggled in your cozy throw.....that is my dream day!

We DID stay in our jammies all day and I DID have a big mug or two of coffee, but as for the great book, the movie and soup...it's all just a dream.

Instead we made a paper chain (actually a countdown to our vacation) which was the brilliant idea of Nicole at Life In Progress. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post that. We made Cinderella's castle out of the kiddos table and chairs and lots of blankets and toys. We watched "Peter Pan", not the animated version, the real one and ate popcorn for lunch. It was a fun, stay-at-home-and-do-nothing-kind of day!

Max is feeling better I think. He is VERY clingy and whiny...but has not had any puking sessions since yesterday. I have used an entire can of Lysol to hopefully kill any germs we might have had. Tomorrow, we plan to get dressed and maybe even hit the grocery store.

On a side note... I got a call from my high school friend tonight and she is pregnant with her first baby. They have been trying for a while and finally all the prayers have worked. I will continue to pray for an easy pregnancy and smooth delivery. I'm so excited for them. This news has totally just made my entire day! Congratulations Dana & Paul!

Bountiful Blessings

So today started pretty well. We did our normal routine stuff. Got up, made beds, got juice and COFFEE! Got a load of laundry in the wash, checked email…since it is spring break…we didn’t have to rush to get to school, but we did have a little guy coming over for the day so we were watching for him. Dax is Max’s little friend (isn’t it cute, Max and Dax…I’m sure their Sunday School and soon-to-be pre-school teachers LOVE the rhyming names) and Dax is also the son of my good friend Marci over at Finding Joy in the Journey…anyway…Marci is out-of-town spending time with her very ill father so we were planning to have Dax the rest of the week while his Daddy was at work. No big deal…the boys play great together and we love having Dax over. Everyone was playing so nice…but I had to run a few errands so we piled in the van to head to the post office. When we got back the kiddos played outside for a little bit, until we got pretty chilly and we came in to warm up. This is when the day started going down hill.

Max wasn’t really acting like himself and he has had this “cold” thing for about a week now. I felt his head and he seemed warm…I went the got the thermometer and checked his temp 100.8….not big deal except that my kid NEVER gets a fever. I honestly think he has only had one other fever…and it was low grade too. Anyway, I remembered last night he said that his ear hurt….OH YEAH…you know where I’m going with this don’t you. So, I called the Dr. (of course, he’s not in today, so I got the nurse practitioner) they could get me in @ 11:45 (that was in 15 minutes)….call my friend Pinky to see if I could bring Dax to her…we dropped him off there, got to the Dr…..DOUBLE EAR INFECTION…poor guy…I’m feeling bad, cause I probably should have taken him last week…anyway, we go to CVS to get drugs, go back to Pinky’s house to get Dax and then take everyone back to my house hoping that Max and Dax would both rest.

Driving down our street, Max pukes all over the car….not just 1 time, but 4 times. I need to remind you that I don’t do puke. It totally makes me want to puke…as I’m striping Max’s clothes off I’m calling Pinky back and begging her for help with Dax. I didn’t want Dax getting something from Max (are you staying with me, I know the name thing is getting confusing) so she drove over and picked Dax up and is keeping him the rest of the day. I know what you are thinking, so its a little puke…this is my motherly duty…deal with it. Then….as I’m trying to get the puke cleaned off Max and get him into some P.J.’s, the phone rings. Normally I would just let it ring, but I noticed on caller id it said CVS. I picked it up and they told me that they had given me the wrong medicine and that I needed to bring it back. WHAT? I was SO mad. I know it wasn’t the lady on the phones fault, but I totally hung up on her…well, I said I would be back sometime and hung up…my boy was cold for goodness sake. It just seemed like everything that happened in that 2 hour period was bad. But that is when you learn life lessons, right?!

I was totally trying to stay positive, even thought I felt like crying….I felt as though I was letting Marci down for not being able to take care of Dax, and I was feeling like a horrible mother for not getting my baby to the doctor sooner and even worse for letting him play outside this morning in the wind. I was just feeling like a failure, but I remembered a devotion from the other day that reads,

“It is not wrong to need help and ask for it. However, it is wrong to need help and be too proud to ask for it.”

For some reason that popped into my head…I had already called on Pinky to help with Dax and then I called my wonderful father-in-law…who just happens to live next door, and bless his heart, he ran the medicine back up to CVS for me, got the right stuff, brought over some Sprite for Max, and cleaned out the puke in the car seat too. WOW! Then my another girlfriend called and came and took Maggie to play at her house, so the house would be quite and Max could rest.

I am crying right now, just writing this and thinking about how blessed I am and how so many people, people I know and lots that I don’t know, don’t have family or friends close to them to call on crazy days like today. I am so blessed with the support of family and friends. So a big THANKS to all of you who helped me out today! Oh and Pinky, I owe you big time…need a new little something pink?!

Anyway, Max is sleeping now and has a dose of antibiotics in him…Maggie is off playing with friends and I am just feeling very blessed to have such great people in my life.

House guest!

Last night we had a house guest. One of the teenage type.

It is not a common event at our house, all of our out-of-town family and friends usually stay next door with Papa Sullivan, and since our 4th bedroom is our computer/craft room, there really isn't a true place for our guests to sleep. To make our guest most comfortable, we let Max sleep in Maggie's room in the sleeping bags and she slept in her bed as usual. At first I wasn't really sure how this would work, would they talk and keep each other up all night? would they be in and out of her room? Well, it seemed to work okay....they both went right to sleep and our teenage quest had a bed to sleep in.


As for our guest sleeping in Max's bed...I forgot to mention to him that is has a slight smell of leaky pull-up covered by the all powerful Lysol. Maybe my nose is extra sensitive, but I think it's probably better than sleeping on the floor. I'm sure he's used to that smell anyway with 3 younger siblings.

Anyway, hopefully our guest didn't think we were "too old" to come back and visit us, he is a great kid and his parents should be very proud of the young man he is becoming.

Thanks for hanging out with us Sam.

Oh and,
Here is the only picture I got on Easter...
I did take some video, and I'm sure I'll get some pictures from other people.

The kids and I are off to Iowa today to pick up Brenda!
Pray for save travels for us!

Just my opinion!

I REALLY don't like plastic Easter grass!

I plan to discuss my feelings with the "big bunny" and hopefully in the future he will only leave the paper kind. It should be like 50% - 70% off in the next few days!

Poor Boy!

Max has had a bad cold for the last few days...Just look at his poor little nose.


This picture is horrible, but I wanted you to see how raw his nose is.
(he totally looks like he's been smokin' something)

So last night as we were doing the bedtime routine, we were in the bathroom and he says,
"Mommy, please don't put anymore gasoline on my nose"
(Now, don't go calling DCFS on me till you hear the rest)
"Gasoline, honey, I would never put gasoline on you..."
"Yes you do Mom, as he points to the little bottle on the bathroom counter."

It was Vaseline!

I'm it!

My long lost sister (I say that, because I feel we have way too much in common, however it seems I didn’t get the writing ability that she did) over at Domestic Accident tagged me. Hello, doesn’t she remember that I’m new to this blogging thing. I’m totally stressing, cause I don’t know what I’m doing. Where is Life in Progress when you need her. Vacation is where…so I guess I’ll give it a go.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Things about me!

• First thing I do in the morning is make the beds. After a potty break, of course. I don’t like it when hubby wants to sleep in, doesn’t he know that I need to make the bed. Sad, I know. Then I “try” to read my morning devotions…this is a new thing for me.

• I LOVE to organize, label and make lists. That is not to say that things are “always” organized, I do have 2 little people living at my home who don’t seem to have the same passion.

• I hate dirty cars (the inside, not the outside)…When I say dirty, I mean just clutter, garbage and such. I understand that the inside gets dirty….but I can’t stand stuff rolling around under my feet.

• I LOVE to take baths….good and hot, where your skin is red when you get out!

• I drink a few cups of coffee in the morning…or should I say half creamer/half coffee. Andy will say, “Do you want some coffee with your creamer?” Oh, and it’s not just any creamer, it has to be Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee Mate, just to make it clear.

• I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks, which will make me half way to 70. Ouch!

• This is my 1^st time to get tagged. Hope I’m doing okay! Oh no, I don’t know if I have 7 blogger friends to send this to. This could be a problem.

I would love to learn more from these blogs I read: It's Almost Naptime, Colored With Memories, and A Little Moore

Tag you're it!

Maggie thinking about the past!

Lately, Miss Maggie has been asking about what she did when she was a baby. She is very interested in the funny things, like daddy putting her the laundry basket to sleep, how when she would cry and be very upset the only thing that would calm her was the running water of the bathtub, etc. She loves to hear this kind of stuff. She has been asking us what our rooms were like we were young, what our old house was like, what her old bedroom was like. We’ve been getting out the scrapbooks a lot to “go over” things with her.

Of course, if I could go back five years and knowing what I know now (isn’t that a phrase you have always heard, but never really used) I would have taken a TON more pictures. I can’t find a picture of her nursery to save my life. Can you believe that? As much time and money we spend to get our first baby's room ready and I don’t have a picture of it anywhere. What kind of scrap booker am I? I do have a few random shots of the room we moved her into when Max arrived (at the old house) but I’m totally bummed about not having the nursery picture.

So this morning, while the kiddos rooms were still picked up, I took some pictures….this way we can look back in a few years and see what their rooms looked like when they were 4 & 3.

Maggie's Room!

Max's Room!

Gretting ready for Easter!

Coloring Easter Eggs is always fun!
But it hard waiting while the eggs soak!

The eggs and pictures turned out pretty cute!

A very special "thank you" to our favorite secret friends!
We LOVE all our goodies!

Goodbye Winter!!!
Hello Spring!!
We are very excited to see Spring tomorrow!

Some days you just need to rest!

How God works!

Sorry it’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything….not that anyone has been waiting for me to write something…

I want to tell you about a very eye-opening experience I had on Saturday. Andy and I help teach the confirmation class at church along with two other great couples. The youth had planned to do a service project on Saturday and we were going along to help out. After speaking to the youth pastor and making sure it was okay to bring our little people along, we all set out to have a great day. I really had no idea what we were doing. All I knew was that we were going to help pick up garbage with the youth and then go out to lunch and each kid would bring enough money to buy their own lunch and also buy lunch for a stranger. Sounds good, right?! The weather was supposed to be nice and I knew my little people would enjoy being with the “big” girls.

I truly think this is how God works. He takes us out of our comfort zone and encourages us to share his love with others….even if it isn’t the best situation(or how we envision the situation to be). Here’s how it went down:

• The day was totally yucky. Cloudy, rainy, sleet, snow & wind….get the picture.

• One girl showed up (and bless her heart, she still wanted to go, with just us “old” people and she isn’t even one of the girls from my confirmation class. We teach the 7^th graders and she is in the 8^th grade class.

• There were 4 adults, 1 youth and 2 little people

• As were are driving, (we all went in our van)….I hear the youth pastor tell Andy to “turn right up here at **** Homes” I think my eyes got as big as quarters as I realized I was taking my two very young children to a not-so-nice housing project. Once we got there, we tried to find the community center.

• We found the community center and the group of young people who organize the project. I then found out that we would be going door to door at this housing project to see if people needed anything (toiletries, canned goods and we also passed out candy bars) The group is trying to build trust with the people who live there, find out if there are any prayer needs that they will share with us and of course pray with them. The group goes out every Saturday morning to visit with people. Not too many people open their doors. There was only one man who let us in. He lived in this small 2 bedroom apartment with is wife and six kids. Really makes you think about why we complain about not having enough room. There were a few other people who came to their doors, but were not very responsive. I don’t know if it was because of the weather, being early in the morning (10 ish), or just because they didn’t want to hear the Word.

• After an hour or so going door to door, we went back to the community center to help with the kids program. Every Saturday, kids from the housing come for an hour to listen to LOUD music, play games, learn a lesson about God and listen to a story. The kids seemed very excited to be there. They came running down the streets without any parents, no coats, (remember it was really yucky outside) but they were excited. They would separate the kids into boys & girls and each group would sit on a tarp with lots of youth helpers. (It’s so cute to see the little girls pick out a “big girl” and cling to them and sit on their laps…it’s so sweet!) The kids listened very well to the adults (and youth) leading and really listened and participated in the bible lesson. It was a wonderful sight!

• Maggie and Max both got to participate, with the help of us of course. Maggie was very clingy…but that is nothing new.ax won the grand prize….which I felt kind of bad…I felt one of the kids from the housing should have won, but Max decided to share his prize. He won a gallon sized zip-lock bag full of big candy bars and such. He passed out his candy to the other kid. He was so sweet. One of the little boys he tried to give some candy to, didn’t want to take it…he really wanted it, but didn’t want to take the “little boys” candy. This little guy had such a great heart. He wanted to give Max some the candy he had already gotten in replacement for the candy Max was giving him. I told him to share it with one of his friends that couldn’t come.

• These kids were just so excited to be there, were learning the Word of God and having a great time. Isn’t that what it’s all about? It's not about where you are, or who you are with, but that you are serving the Lord! Can I hear an Amen?!

• The last part of our day was to get some lunch and warm up a little. We went to Old Chicago, on the riverfront about 12:30ish. The place was practically empty. We all put in some money and order two pizzas. With the remaining money, we decided to pay for someone else’s lunch. There was a cute young couple sitting next to us. When the waiter brought our check, we informed him that we wanted to pay their check also. He looked at us funny, but went and got both checks. When he returned, he asked if there was some reason why were doing this, and our reply was “We are just sharing God’s love” All the waiter could say was “WOW” as he smiled ear to ear. (I think it made him feel good too!) As we got up and got our coats on, we went by the young couples table to tell them that their check was taken care of along with the tip and that if they wanted to leave a bigger tip that would be great. They were stunned. We told them we were sharing God’s love and to pass it on! By the way….we left our very kind waiter a very hefty tip as well. What an AWESOME feeling to do something so simple.

I informed the confirmation girls on Sunday morning that we WILL be going back and doing this again. I feel that we all need to see and experience this. It will remind us that we are ALL God’s creatures and we need to treat each other that way!

It’s Almost Over!

I don’t know if it’s just me or if others are feeling the same, but this Lenten season seems to be lasting forever. I think maybe it’s because it started earlier this year, but gosh I’m kind of ready for it to be over. To recap, I gave up soda, potato chips and buying on eBay. I have to tell you, the soda and chips haven’t been TOO hard. Now don’t get me wrong, when I hear the sound of a soda can being opened, I totally scan the area to see who the lucky person is. I really thought the hard one would be the potato chips, I LOVE them…if fact, Andy and I wish we would have had bags of chips instead of wedding cake at our wedding…that’s how much we love chips. The kids and I have snacked on pretzels and goldfish for lunch instead. I can say honestly say that I haven’t missed the soda and chips enough to want to go out and buy the store out after church on Easter Sunday. I actually made the decision to try and keep up the not drinking soda or eating chips after Lent if over….I’m sure it won’t be like I will NEVER have them again, but I think (know) it’s better for me not to have them.

Now, the other one….has NOT been so easy. I LOVE eBay. I love to buy, and sell. Of course, I have been watching several items and I missed several great opportunities….all in the name of Jesus (I like to think at least). I even asked Andy to buy a few items for me and then it wouldn’t be ME buying them…I even told him he could wait till after Easter to give the item to me….he didn’t go for that! So I’m really looking forward to Easter, just so I can buy again.

A few of the girls in my bible study did a more meaningful thing for Lent and I will try to do that next year (I think that’s really what Lent is supposed to be about). Trying to change my negative thoughts to positive and only thinking good things…I’m going to practice now, so that at Lent next year I might be a step ahead.

Fun for the Kiddos!

While on my “Girls Only Weekend” Sassy and I had the television on for some background noise while we getting ready on Sunday morning. As we were flipping through the channels, we found the Iowa Pubic Broadcast channel which had a show called KID CONCOCTIONS. Have you all heard of this? If you know about this and haven’t shared it with others…shame on you! Maybe I’m just off in my own little world…and this is “old news” but this show was too cool. They showed how to make all kinds of concoctions. They made soft serve ice cream in a zip-lock bag with some ice, salt and a few ingredients that we all have in the kitchen (Princess said she tried this one and it didn’t work so well). They made their own sidewalk chalk with a toilet paper roll (that doesn’t come off on your clothes); they also made this goop stuff and looked really cool. It sounded like all the stuff was easy and CHEAP! I’m all about that! Since I’m trying to find fun things for the kids to do now that no one wants to take a nap…I thought this would something fun to check out.

Anyway…Let me know if you have heard of this and if any of the “projects” work! I would love to hear some feedback before I buy this book.

Surprised & Sleepy!

The girl’s weekend is over and we had an absolute blast! We scraped, laughed, shopped a little, stayed up really late, and laughed some more! (Oh, and Pinky & Princess got locked out of their room @ 5 in the morning.) Those were just a few of the highlights from our weekend. I am not usually one of those people who can stay up all night to scrapbook….but Sassy and I stayed up late both nights (2 am on Friday night and 3 am on Saturday night) then we lost an hour yesterday for Daylight Savings so, today, I’m very sleepy!

I’ll share some pictures of the “Girl’s Only Weekend” in a few days when I have time to edit them! Haha!

So there was a BIG surprise when I got home on Sunday evening! Andy, Papa and the kids replaced our upstairs interior doors while I was gone. This project has been on the list for awhile and I am so excited to have it done. My wonderful husband stayed up all night Friday night (to help with the church lock-in) and then did remodeling on the house on Saturday AND had the kids all weekend! What a GREAT guy! Love ya hun!

I’ll write more when I’m rested!

Girls Only Weekend!

Well, I’m heading off tomorrow morning with some girls for a “Girls Only Weekend”. We are going to a resort in Galena for a weekend of scrapbooking. Yes, an entire weekend without any little people climbing on me, wanting more juice or needing their bottom wiped. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to this. My wonderful husband totally surprised me LAST year with the weekend and I told him several times what a wonderful gift it was. After that first trip, I hinted many times, that it would be a great Christmas present EVERY year. Sassy and I had a blast last year and so we thought we would share the fun this year. Pinky and Princess are coming along this year and we are going to SHOP, CROP then, at some point DROP! Check out the cute shirts Princess designed for us.

I’m in great need of this time to get away, regroup and remind myself who I am…that my life doesn’t revolve around my kids….WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?!?!……It’s ALWAYS about my kids. And I love it!

I signed my baby girl up for Kindergarten today….OMG…KINDERGARTEN. She’s going to be 5 years old soon. Where has the time gone? She is such a great kid and I hope that I remind her of that and tell her often. She is a wonderful sister (most of the time). She totally helped this morning get Max’s jacket and shoes on. Most of the time she is eager to help him, it’s just that he wants me to help him, not her. But at least she is willing. I totally treat her like an adult, I think because most of the time she acts like one. We were talking tonight about Mommy being gone this weekend, here was the conversation.

Me: Grandma & Paca are going to pick you up from school tomorrow.
Maggie: I know Mom!

Me: Dad will pick you guys up at their house after work.
Maggie: I know Mom!

Me: Don’t forget about the birthday party Saturday night for Sofie.
Maggie: I know Mom; her present is in the computer room!

Me: I’m going to miss you! Call me whenever you want…I’ll have my cell phone!
Maggie: I know you’ll miss me, we’ll call mom…don't forget the charger!

She doesn’t seem like she’s 4 years old, does she?!?!?!

Max fell asleep tonight watching American Idol. I guess he wasn’t that into it! (Isn’t that a book or something?) He had a long day of church, playing with Sassy’s son, and watching Daddy play soccer tonight…so I knew it would be an easy night with him.

But one quick funny before I sign off for the weekend…

At the soccer game tonight, the kids were playing Simon Says on the playset and all of a sudden Max started crying. When I went to see what was wrong, he said that he bumped his head on the slide. He had been walking up the slide instead of sliding down. So I told him, that if he would have been going down the “right” way he wouldn’t have gotten hurt. His response,” But Simon Says walk up the slide!”

I couldn’t respond to that!

Have a great weekend, I know I will!

Maggie's Day at the Dentist!

Today Maggie went the dentist for the first time. She has been going with me the last several times just to see what goes on there, but today was the day for her to get her teeth cleaned.

I was a little nervous about how it was going to go, she was pretty upset about going this morning. I wanted to make sure that I could concentrate on her so Max went to his best buddy Dax’s house to play this morning (thanks again Marci for keeping Max for me). I told Maggie that if she was a big girl and if there was no crying we would go and get a movie when we were done. For those of you who know my daughter, I’m sure you can understand why I had to try any thing to help her to feel comfortable and safe.

For those of you who don’t know Maggie, she has an old soul and is very reserved and likes to just sit back and watch what is going on, until she feels comfortable enough to join in. She is getting much better about jumping in the older she gets but is still very cautious. She gets very uneasy about new situations so I have to be careful how I bring them up and careful how much I talk about them. This is a girl who it took 3 nurses plus mom to hold her down to get a flu shot….just to give you an idea.

The dentist appointment was GREAT! She did an AWESOME job. She didn’t want to lie in the big dentist chair by herself, so I had her sit on my lap. She opened up wide, let the hygienist scrap, clean, floss and use the fluoride treatment. Not one single tear! She was a perfect patient. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am. This was really a big deal. I think it was bigger for me than her! Anyway, she got to pick some goodies out of the goodie box and being the nice sister that she is, she picked out some stuff for Max too.

We went to pick up Max, who kept saying he was a big boy too, because he didn’t cry about the dog at Dax’s house. (That’s another day’s story). So off to Wal-mart we went to buy a new movie. We got Mr. Magorium Wonder Emporium. It’s a really cute movie! Check it out!

Just my opinion!

I was talking with my friend Lani the other day and we were both complaining about grocery shopping with our kids. Her issues with kids and shopping are a little different than mine, but we ended up both venting about the same thing.

If you are a mom, most likely you have encountered the “car shaped” shopping cart at the grocery store. Maybe you are a fan of these beasts, if so you might want to stop reading now as I’m about to vent a little more.

First of all….whoever invented these horrible contraptions obviously didn’t try it out in an actual store. I swear you need a special class W driver’s license (W for What were they thinking) to drive these beasts. I think I have taken out several racks and displays just trying to get to the side of the isle to let someone else get by. You literally have to make a wide semi-trailer type turn just to get to the next isle. Heaven forbid there are any people headed your way! There ought to be a beeper and flashing lights to notify others that you are coming.

I do have to give them credit for trying to keep the kids entertained while shopping. The cute little steering wheels help for about 10 minutes, then the kids are done and want to get out. There I am left trying to drive this massive thing, without any kids even in the cart. So I made a decision that we will no longer be getting these carts. This decision was actually made several months ago and I have done pretty well.

However, last week Max and I ran in to get a few things and he begged to get a car cart. I kindly reminded him of our “new rule” and he didn’t fuss too much. We were cruising down the isles when he saw a boy in a blue car cart. Then says “Wook mom, that boy’s mommy is nice…she doesn’t have the new wule” My response was simply “Yep, she’s a nice mommy” I couldn’t think anything else to say….talk about a guilt trip.

So, if the person who invented these stupid carts happens to be reading my blog…all I want to say is:

“I hate car-shaped shopping carts!”

Thank you, I feel much better now!

It’s Official!

We have started the planning of our 1^st family vacation to Disney World. You thought I was going to announce that I was pregnant or something CRAZY like that didn’t you! Fooled you!

Now I say this is our first trip to Disney which isn’t entirely true. Maggie’s Great Auntie Pat took her (and us) to Disney for a day when we were visiting her in FL over Maggie’s 1^st birthday. Auntie Pat said SHE wanted to be the person to take Maggie to Disney for the first time. We had a great day, Maggie and Cousin Chandler had a ball. Here are a few pics from that trip!

But this trip is all of us. If you ask Max if he has been to Disney World…he’ll say yes, because he has seen the pictures of me pregnant at Disney in Maggie’s scrapbook. She will reply to him that he really hasn’t been there since he didn’t get to ride any of the rides.

I must say that when we went to Disney back in 2004 for the day with Great Auntie Pat…she did all the planning and such. She is VERY good at that kind of thing. Everything was taken care of and all we had to do was go.

So we started tossing around the idea to go again! Maggie has been saying that she gets to pick where we go for her “5 year old birthday”….I was thinking places like the zoo, Chuck E Cheese, or somewhere along those lines…..but she insisted on Disney World. Now don’t get me wrong….just because she wants to go there isn’t the reason why we are going….we started talking about it before she mentioned it! The kids are both at a good age to go and we really didn’t do much vacationing last year with Nana being sick…so we were thinking Disney anyway.

Here I go again…just rambling on and on….GET TO THE POINT TRACI!

So a few weeks ago I started to do some “research” on Disney! OH MY GOSH! It is an entirely different language these people speak. I felt so overwhelmed just checking out the website. So I made a call to Nicole over at Life in Progress. She is now my PPDPP.

Did you get that….Personal Part-time Disney Planner Person! I truly feel that this is her calling in life and I will refer to her many more times before the week of our trip.

I just have the basics booked as of now, but I have a feeling that was the easy part. The hard part is still ahead…trying to make meal reservations, figure out where we want to go and on what days and all the other stuff. My brain hurts just thinking about it. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted, and if you need some Disney advice, let me know I might be able to give you the name of my PPDPP…for a fee of course!

This is my "Disney notebook"
I had the kids color a Disney picture for the cover!