Thursday, January 24, 2013

My little models

I started sewing because If my girls. Dresses are expensive and when I have to guy two things get a little crazy. More often than not, I choose not to buy dresses unless there is a special occasion. Now I do many other crafts, but lately I find that I don't care for those as much as I like sewing. I enjoy Doug applique and trying new things, but I love sewing the most. It makes me feel better. There are times when the house looks like a bomb exploded, I don't care because I want to sew. It's my down time, my me time.

I have opened a shop not only to save money but I guess it's to fund a hobby. I don't have a shop to get rich. I do t think that'll ever happen.

J's dress is my latest creation. It's a design by Petite Kids Boutique. I will be making more to sell in my shop so please keep visiting. I've had all the fabric for a long time and I actually started K's dress as a 1st day of kindergarten outfit but it was too big. The matching Capri pants look more like pajamas, but the top works for layering.

It also feeds the minor urge to dress my twins similarly (thy stopped wearing same clothes at 2).

Miss K is quite natural at posing. She likes to be "stylish" (her word). Miss J also likes to be stylish but every time I make her pose, she looked hunched over. There has been time she absolutely looks gorgeous and posed, but this day was not that day.

This was on a fairly "warm". Warm is a relative term of course. Today at 9am it was -15. All this week has been quite a chore with this arctic weather. I've been driving he kids to school and picking them up because standing at the bus stop can be quite dangerous for Little M. I bundled him up quite well on Tuesday, but we went out too early and the bus came late. Little M's fingers were quite red under his waterproof snow gloves. My legs, which were only covered by 1 layer of clothing were quite numb.

Next week we are hopefully back to more normal and civil temperature.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

toddler story telling


When we went outside to wait for the school bus, Little M and I pretended we were in the beach. It was chilly, so it was a fun play. We walked back and forth in the side walk and saw a shark. It tried to get us so we ran away really fast. We then decided to walk back when we were sure it was gone, but crabs tried to pinch us and run after us! This is Little M retelling the story to Daddy at dinner.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

2 years, 9 months old and very smart

The other day I told Little M that it was time for a nap. He looked out the window and said, "No, it's not! It's daytime!"

On a crazy evening after evening, Little M asked me for juice. I had just sat down and wasn't ready to get up again so I told him, "Not now." I heard him go to the kitchen, came back to the livin room and started digging through the box of diapers mumbling to himself, "Wipes. Need wipes." After he found the wipes he ran back to the kitchen. After a few more minutes he came back to me and asked, "Juice, Mommy?"

"In a little bit, baby."

"I clean up kitchen, I get juice!" I had no choice but to get him what he wanted after that.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

My young padawan's Jedi training at Hollywood Studios


Big M began his Star Wars journey when we bought his first Star Wars Lego at 3 years old. You can just imagine that at almost 8 years old, the Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios would be one of his absolute favorite at Disney World.

We went to Hollywood Studios on our 2nd full day at Disney, and we walked in on the middle of a Jedi training. We were all mesmerized, so Daddy and Big M ran in to sign him up for a later show in the evening. J and K were going to sign up, but they both changed their mind at the sign-up.

When it came back later that evening, K, J, Little M and I sat ourselves in front of the stage (we were one of the 2 families already waiting) and waited. One of the man keeping an eye on the area were chatting with the girls and just having fun. A few minutes later, I heard the man on the radio asking if there were room in the Jedi training class for 2 more girls. He was talking about my girls. Good thing it didn't work out, since the girls already said they didn't want to do it. The man was thoughtful though, which is one of those things that makes an already magical vacation even more magical. :)

Little M was engrossed watching his big brother fight Vader. At some point he started getting mad at Vader, too. He is just like his mommy, ready to defend a family member.

Here is a video of the later half of the Jedi training, which includes a funny skit of the storm troopers. We got a kick out of this one.


What a fun evening! We loved watching Big M enjoy himself....and yes, he's the boy wearing a rebel alliance symbol that I made. :) He and Daddy wore the same shirt that day.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Turtle Talk with Crush


This is one of the highlight of our Disney trip for me. We went to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot. The kids were asked to sit in the front, while the parents sat in benches. Daddy and I didn't even get to sit together because he moved where he could see Little M, who also sat in the front.

We had no idea who Crush was talking to until Big M said his name. Then Crush asked for his parents, and both Daddy and I waved my hand. The woman holding the microphone was momentarily confused as to why the "rentals" were in sitting separately. But I grabbed my chance and waved furiously so Crush talked me. I was the one referred to as the "mamacita!" But in my excitement, I eventually stopped recording. Crush asked me how many kids I have, and I said 4. He said he has 75, but that's ok, it was a contest. HAHA!

Big M's voice was barely making it on this 2nd day of our vacation, that's why he sounds different.

Because of this, Crush is now one of my fave character at Disney World!


Flight to Disney World

The start of our magical vacation on Dec. 18 was off to a rocky start. We left the house bright and early at 7:30am in order to have plenty of time for our 9am departure to NJ. We had plenty of time except our flight was delayed due to weather. It said it wasn't going to arrive in Albany until 1130am. The problem was our flight from NJ to FL was due to leave 12:15pm. Fortunately, we prepared for such an event of long waits and each of the kids had their own rolling backpacks full of crayons, notebook, coloring books, and friends. While I watched everyone, Daddy went to work on securing a different flight to FL. Thankfully, everyone he spoke with at United were friendly.

The kids kept asking when the plane would be there, because they want to go! We were hungry, and cranky. Finally, we left Albany at 11:45. When we arrived in NJ, our next flight to FL was not to leave until 5pm....another long wait for the kids. Our original time of arrival to FL was supposed to be 4pm. Instead we arrived at our resort at 11pm. None of the older kids had any kind of nap. Little M had only a 20 minute nap the entire day.

Our magical express bus ride from the airport to the resort was very exciting for the older 3. They kept seeing something about Disney and they knew we were finally close. After checking in at 11 pm, we found out our bags were not there yet. Tired, hungry, and no bedtime clothes, we ate at the dining area and had a midnight snack. We took pictures of the Disney Cars characters all over the resort.

Finally, at 1130 we got our bags. We changed the kids, gave them medicine and off to bed they went. Little M was a little warm to the touch that day, and he was wheezing. Thankfully, we took his nebulizer with us. Through the length of our stay, he battled coughing due to asthma which brought on vomiting. The vomiting was only recently controlled with the new meds (prevacid), but the vomiting came back with the coughing. Daddy stole all the barf bags in the plane in our seats, and we took it with us. We did have to use a few of them.

Little M had some low grade fever. I gave him Ibuprofen, and had to use that for 2 days, until whatever he had was gone. Of course, the coughing asthma stayed. Before we bed, and before we left in the morning, and whenever we came back for a nap, he had to have a treatment.

The start of our vacation was off to a rocky start with everyone starting off exhausted.

Friday, January 4, 2013

A mom can't have too many purses

My almost 8-yr old son said to me an hour ago, "Mommy, you need to stop switching purses because you forget something in it and then you say, 'NO. IT'S IN MY OTHER PURSE!'" 

After we drove his sisters to Drama Kids there was a package in the front door. I opened it, and it was my purse. :) Then he said, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! YOU HAVE TOO MANY PURSES!"

My boy doesn't understand me. *sniff* I mean, look at that. It matches my nails!  This is my christmas gift from the in-laws. Thanks!


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Understanding Disney World Dining Plans

We went to Disney World for our first ever big vacation the week before Christmas 2012. We came home on the 23rd, just in time to avoid the crazy peak time. Although, the amount of people there while we were there, one would think it was already peak time.

Before recording our fun times, I want to keep some records of what I need to remember for next time. There are a lot! I will start with the Dining plan. We had a Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining, which includes 1 snack, 1 quick-service meal, and 1 table-service meal for all of us (except for kids under age 3). Everyone (except under 3) also get refillable mugs - you can get these in the resort. They will have a plastic seal that the cashier must cut when you get it. Children must order from the children's menu. The meals can be used however you want until it runs out (multiple snacks, quick service, table service a day).

Snack:
Snack is any single serve drinks/juices  or snacks like popcorn, chips, etc. The drinks will be the taller ones for adults, the children must get the children-sized drinks.

Quick-Service:
We stayed at the Art of Animation resort and everything there is considered quick-service. It can be the crab cake burger, the stir-fry, breakfast-platter, etc.  A quick service meal includes a drink and a dessert (some restaurants say you can't have deserts, but it's best to ask).

If you are staying in the resort, and you have your refillable mug it's easy to forget to grab a bottled drink with your quick service meal. If you forget to get one, you forfeit it. SO DON'T FORGET! You can grab a bottled drink, do not open it, and you can take it to the park. Or you can take it back to your resort for when you get thirsty in the middle of the night. The same goes with the dessert. If you don't get it, you forfeit it. I believe the kids don't get desert, I'm not sure on that.

Refillable mugs:
You can get unlimited refills on this at the resort anytime their open. There are even wash stations near the drink fountains so you can rinse your mugs. These mugs are not refillable anywhere else.

Table Service:
A table service is anything at the restaurant where you are seated and served. All the character dinings take 1 table service credit, except Cinderella's Royal table where it takes 2 table service credit. So if you have a table service dining plan, look at all the available character dining and book one for every evening! Just remember to book in advance; for Cinderella we were urged to book 6 months in advance.

Some of the table-service meals are buffets. We went to Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort and they had great food! In my opinion, much better than Cinderella's. But with Cinderella, you are paying for the chance to meet all the princesses, which in itself is worth it when you have young girls.

Should you forget to make dinner reservations, call the reservation line as soon as you remember and they will tell you which restaurants have openings, no matter what resort or parks the restaurant is.

Also, we ate Epcot one evening and found out that for the more expensive meals they charge 2 table service credits. This worked for us because due to my lack of know-how, we ended up with more than 1 table service meal on our last evening. So hubby and I just went ahead and ordered the most expensive meals.

Remember:
Refillable mug is not counted as part of the meal plan. You can refill it whenever you want at the resort.

If you run out of dining and choose to pay for one meal out of pocket, choose breakfast to pay for. They are a little bit cheaper than lunch or dinner.

To find out how much you have left, look at your receipt. The receipt counts down, so in our vacation of 5 days, we had 25 in our receipt and it counts down every time we redeem the meals.