A man on a mission

It wasn't without a good deal of swearing, blisters, sunburn and exhaustion...but, it's done.  The girls and I are so thankful for all of hubby's hard work!  They are having a blast on their new swing set!

Who's got the key?

Ever talk to a 4 year old and feel like you could have made more headway with a coffee table?  Yeah, me too.

The other night, I took the girls to a playground to burn off some energy with friends.  Mini Me and her friend were playing in the castle structure and both were having their moments being "mean" to each other.  They were pretending to 'lock' the non-existent door.  This led to the one who was locked out to come running and complain that they weren't being let into the castle.

My friend and I stood there, amazed at how deeply these kids believed they couldn't get in.  Seriously?!?  There isn't even a door, much less a locked door.  If you want in....go in!  But, no. It would seem that if one were to attempt to enter through the 'locked door' there would be a giant rip in the time-space continuum or something.

Good thing I never leave home without my magic castle unlocking keys.

Feed Them Fridays

The granola bars we made a few weeks ago were a big hit, and we have continued to make them.  (Although, just as an aside, these are not so awesome in 90+ degree temperatures.  They kind of lose their 'bar' shape and become more of a sticky mess).

In non-melted status, they look a little something like this:

We also took the girls blueberry picking:

  

                                            

So, in addition to having fresh blueberries for snacks, and frozen blueberries for smoothies, we made blueberry muffins.  Yummy!

Blueberry picking was much more enjoyable than strawberry picking.  We didn't need to crawl around on the ground.  There were plenty at our height and also at the perfect height for the kids to pick.  My kids didn't even squish too many, which is HUGE for Sweet Pea.  It could have gone so horribly wrong.  

I've kind of fallen off the cooking ahead wagon.  Last week the temperatures looked like this:

So, really?  Smoothies with frozen fruit was about as ambitious as I got last week.   I'm working on my plan now for next week.  I'm feeling like we're in a rut for lunches, so I'm looking for some awesome new blogs/websites with kid friendly, healthy meal ideas.

Mommy's Little Helper

Sweet Pea likes to help around the house.  She especially likes to feed our dog and take clothes out of the dryer.

Yesterday, I grabbed an armful of clothes from the dryer and went to the living room and started folding them.  Sweet Pea was running back and forth bringing me various items from the dryer.  After a few trips, I could hear her at the dryer but her return was taking much longer than usual.  I went to investigate, and found this:

AK Touring Plan

Disney Hours for February have been released!  ::Happy Dance::  That means, we can start making some more solid "plans".  Woo Hoo!

Since we are starting our trip at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we were thinking of going to Animal Kingdom our first park day.

I think our AK day will look a little something like:

Tusker House Breakfast (8am-ish)
Grab FPs for Kilimanjaro Safari and get into line for the Safari
Walk the Pangani Trail
Take the Wildlife Express Train
Rafiki's Planet Watch
Use Safari FPs
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Lunch @ Flametree BBQ
Tree of Life
It's Tough to be a Bug
Camp Minnie Mickey
Jungle Parade
Dinoland/Triceratop Spin
Back to resort for dinner & evening activities

This is a very ambitious plan, especially with 2 little ones.  We fully expect not to get through it all.  We may also want to check out a few shows, which would leave us even less time.  However, I also don't want to waste time walking back & forth across a large park.  So, having a plan helps us make sure we hit the things in each area we are interested in.  If the kids aren't into the treks or shows, we won't do them.

Up next:  DHS

Beach!

Despite being in the Northeast, we have a plethora of beaches a short distance away.  This past week, we packed up the car and headed to one.  We had not been to this particular beach before, but I think it will be one of our favorites.

Mini Me, who isn't really crazy about rides, had a BLAST at the beach-side amusement park.  At first she was a little hesitant, but throughout the day, she got more and more daring and went on things she originally refused to go on.  It was great watching her.  She especially liked the bumper cars.

Then we headed onto the beach.  We splashed in the waves for a bit.  Sweet Pea thought it was great to run back and forth, playing tag with the waves.  Squeals of delight.  Then, of course, we played in the sand before heading back to the rides.

We also saw fireworks on the beach.  The girls had their glow sticks and they LOVED the fireworks!  

As Mini Me would say:  Best.Day.Ever!  LOL

Bye, Bye Binkie!

Sweet Pea has been teething...forever.  She's apt to chew on anything and everything that she can, regardless of whether or not she should.

In order to keep her from sticking too many strange things in her mouth, we have relied heavily on pacifiers.  However, the other day, we discovered that she had bitten holes into them.  Into the trash they went.

I was afraid the first night.  I put her to bed and she immediately yelled "dee dee!  dee dee!" and searched around frantically for one.  After a few minutes of crying, she went to sleep.  She has only asked for it once, and was easily redirected.

So, that's it!  My baby is a big girl now.

Oh, and to add to all this big girlness, we turned her car seat forward facing.   ::sigh::  Bye, bye binkies, and babies.  :-(

Dueling Sprinklers

Last Wednesday, the last planned phase of our house construction was done:   The grass seed was spread!

So, hubby has been out there watering.  And, our neighbor has been as well.  I won't say they are competitive, but last night after turning off the sprinkler because it was starting to get dark hubby saw neighbor outside still watering and considered going back out to turn it on.

I'm waiting for the moment they each have their sprinklers set up on either side of the driveway, with water spraying at each other like a duel.  That I will capture a picture of!

However, I guess it seems to be working, because we have the very beginnings of some grass.  Woo Hoo!

It is starting to come together nicely.  I think some painting projects are in store for the fall.  Maybe finishing the basement as well.

Disney Planning

Clothing.

Yup, I've already started to think about it.  I've seen pictures of kids all dressed up in their princess best at the parks.  Yes, it's cute.  Yes, it makes for awesome pictures.  But, no.  It's not practical for a day running around at the parks.

So, I am planning on bringing a dress for the girls, in case they really want to dress up for a day.  But, the rest of the time I'll have some Disney clothes for them.  I am also planning a couple tutus & skirts to coordinate with some tops to mimic the princess look, without the big, uncomfortable dress.

Even though its Florida, it can still get cold in the winter.  I know this first hand.  I remember being at Epcot in 2006 wearing a sweatshirt, winter coat, scarf and still freezing.  So, who knows.  We'll have some options for all weather.  I'm a notorious over-packer anyway, so that shouldn't be difficult for me.

I also picked up rain poncho's just in case.  At least I'm fairly certain we won't need snow boots!

What's with the birds?!?

So, after last weeks birdie snow globe, I had a close call with a bird myself.

Yesterday, as I was driving to the grocery store, a bird swooped in front of my car.  It hit my antenna and kept going, but I certainly hears the thump.  I think the little birdie was OK, at least I hope so.  There were no feathers flying, so I took that as a good sign.

Seriously.  What is with the birds around here?

Weekend Workout

Since we had a long weekend (made even longer by hubby taking 2 vacation days!  Hello 5 day weekend!), we decided to get a bunch of house projects done.

Hubby cut the grass and put together a shelving unit for the garage.  We got the garage organized so that hubby can now use it for his car, instead of stuff.

We also have this rock retaining wall that Sweet Pea has almost launched herself off of several times.  So, we transformed it (with a little more swearing and arguing than I'd like to admit) into this:

It's a fairly temporary solution, since we have plans to have the retaining walls redone next year (come on tax refund!)

Then, I painted Sweet Pea's room, so that it looks like this:

Throw in planting flowers near the deck, dishes, laundry, cleaning out my car, trips to several stores, and some 4th of July fun with our neighbors and we've had a crazy busy holiday weekend.  Mini Me even managed to see fireworks from her bedroom window.

Oh, and who could forget our trip to an amusement park that the kids did not find so amusing???  Mini Me *insisted* we ride this spinning turtle ride and the screamed to get off as soon as it started moving.  So, we went on the whale ride (sort of like Dumbo) that she LOVED when we were there a few weeks ago.  She freaked out!  I don't know what was up with that.  But, I made her stay on (ha ha, bad mom) and she settled down halfway through.

Also, Sweet Pea would not go on anything except a tractor ride.  She wouldn't even get on a boat or train.  But, we did get to meet Curious George, so that was fun!

Sweet Pea was just in awe of the princess:

It was funny, but it wasn't.

I love animals.  I really do.  (Well, except the slithering variety.)

And, I never want to see an animal injured or killed--but, I still found myself giggling a little bit today when the car in front of me hit a bird.

No, not one that was on the ground.  But, a bird that flew perpendicular to the road.  It happens all the time--they swoop right in front of you and then out of the way before you can even think of doing anything.  But, this poor bird must have been having a bad navigational day because he did not make it out of the way.

So, why was I giggling?  Because it was just like a scene from a cartoon where a bird explodes and feathers fly everywhere.  It was kind of like driving through a snow globe.  I just had to laugh a little. 

Disney Planning

Since there's not a whole lot I can do until the park hours are posted and our Advance Dining Reservation window opens up, I've been working on some other stuff to make the trip fun.

I ordered some goodies for the kids.  When we arrive, I'm going to have hubby distract the kids in the lobby while I secretly run to our room to set up a "welcome" from Mickey & the gang.

For Mini Me, I bought personalized princess ears, a personalized lanyard with a set of cupcake trading pins (I thought since it was a birthday celebration, the cupcakes would be fun!), and an autograph book.  I also bought her a special Tinkerbell February Birthday pin as a birthday present.  That one will not be a 'trade' pin.

For Sweet Pea, I bought personalized Minnie ears and an autograph book.  

I'll also be checking the dollar stores and dollar bins for random Disney stuff so that Tinkerbell can leave a little gift for each of them each day.

The other things on my agenda:  planning activities for the car ride, figuring out how we're going to reveal the surprise, and outfit planning.

I've also been "planting" the idea of going to Disney.  We've been watching a bit more Disney shows & movies, than the usual PBS stuff.  We've also talked about when hubby and I went to Disney, and showed her some pictures.  Mini Me has started to talk about wanting to go to Disney someday and Sweet Pea is loving Mickey & the gang now.  

Seriously, the planning (even though we aren't really do a whole lot of structure when we're there-other than meals & special experiences) is so much fun! 

The messiest kid in the universe

So, while I was doing all that cooking, my little ones were snacking and doing some art.

Sweet Pea decided to decorate herself:

And, the floor:

Nothing says bed time like...

Nothing says bedtime like spraying your screaming kid with Pam.

Sweet Pea went to bed after a long day.  She wasn't entirely happy about it, but nothing too crazy.  Until I heard this awful scream and thumping coming from her room.  I ran upstairs-convinced she had climbed/fallen out of her crib- only to find her with her leg, past her knee, wedged through the slats of the crib.

I tried to turn her in different ways to no avail.  Hubby came to help, but no luck.  So, when in doubt...

I ran downstairs, flung open the cabinets and grabbed the Pam.  A few squirts and poof!-her leg was free.

So much for an early bedtime.....

Feed Them Fridays

This weeks plan for getting ahead in the kitchen focused on breakfast & morning snack stuff for the girls.

I made 27 pancakes (some regular, some blueberry), a banana bread, and a dozen oatmeal raisin muffins.


It all looked a little something like this:

And, left a mess like this:

Next week, the plan includes:
Cornbread
Corndog muffins
Chicken & Rice Wraps