Weekly Winners - The Disney World Edition

I'm not quite sure how some people could consider Disney World a glorified amusement park. Especially having never been there...

Anyway - here's my favorite eight from our eight day vacation!

Enjoy!

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For more Disney Pictures and stories visit Our Disney Daze.

And so we did it.

It's rare for me to talk about money on here, but here I go...


After sitting down and realizing that we've been able to cut our monthly bills by almost $1000 - paid off both cars, our home equity loan, and refinanced our mortgage - We started to look into the Disney Vacation Club.

We have also been looking into buying land.

And I know some would argue that land is a better investment - I'd love to hear anyone's story about how much their house/land is worth right now. (And we did actively look for land this summer, but really could not afford/could not find exactly what we wanted.)

In our mind - the Disney Vacation Club would be a great investment. Not money wise - we're not expecting to turn a profit here. In fact, we're not planning on selling. What we are planning on doing is figuring out when and where we can vacation, because folks, the Disney Vacation Club is not just for DisneyWorld anymore.

I will admit - it took awhile for me to realize that Mike meant it when he kept saying, "yeah, let's do this now - and then save for a camper and land." We both agreed it made sense to buy into DVC now - since those prices just keep going up.

So we did it. You can read more about it over here.

Besides Running..

So, besides running, we've been busy over here at the "tub" thinking about this.

And it is such a lovely thing to think about, don't you agree?

Tips and Tricks: Travelling with a Toddler

If you need to travel with a toddler on an airplane - don't.

Ha Ha! Just kidding. sort of.

One of my regrets from our recent vacation to Disney World was not getting a seat for Liam and instead opting to have him sit on my lap. If your child does not fall asleep on you normally, don't expect them to fall asleep on you on an airplane - even if take off is after their normal bedtime. Having an antsy and way over tired toddler trying to climb done, up, over, and around during a flight is tiring. I really think that if I could have buckled him up in a carseat and let it be he would have been fine. Sure, it would have cost a few extra hundred dollars, but really, who would have noticed?

(Oh - and we did have a TON of fun, really. There's just so much to write about I can't figure out where to start - so give me a few days, 'kay???)

The Bags Are Packed

And here I sit. Waiting for my mom and dad, who are taking us to the airport. I've got just over an hour, I think, until they get here. My stomach is nervous - I hate getting a nervous tummy, but it happens whenever I travel. I've got to add food and formula to my orange bag - the laptop to my new brown and pink bag - and the cameras to the pile. And the laptop charger to the duffel bag along with the camera connector thingy. Oh. And pillow cases. I've got to go get the pillow cases. Thanks for listening to me think out loud. The laptop is coming with so you may or may not see some pictures here while we're gone. Who knows????

Can you feel the excitement?

Had to share this picture of a super-excited Quinn with y'all.

To read more about the shopping and decisions I've been making lately go check out Our Disney Daze!

Trying Not to Drive You Crazy

So - all I've been thinking about lately is Disney stuff. And in order to not drive you crazy I haven't been posting much about it at all - but I've found a solution. Here it is. Amy and I have started a Disney blog. You can expect some talk of our upcoming trip - and trip reports after the fact. Plus - some other Disney related stuff. Are you a Disney fan? You'll love it. Not so much a Disney fan? Keep checking back here - I'm bound to come up with something soon. Like maybe I'll tell you about how all the therapist felt Liam is doing. Or I'll tell you about Quinn and preschool. Or work. Or how much my life is driving me crazy. Or how dirty my house is. Or whatever. Just keep checking - don't give up on me, 'kay?

Oh - and by the way - only 29 more days! But who's counting?

Weekly Winners Aug. 9th

Crawling Over

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Sitting On

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60 More Days!

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Help from the Big Brother

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Playing In Daddy's Truc

A Package From The Mouse

Alright. So my friend Amy and I have truly been going a little Disney crazy. We've got our dinner reservations made, days planned out (as to which parks we'll be visiting), some outfits planned for the kiddos, treats for goody bags purchased, and so much more. We've been working on letters for the kids to get every morning with a little goody bag - telling them what's going on that day. She made some really cool looking autograph clipboards - go see! And she made some stroller tags! Oh yeah - she is the more creative one out of the two of us - and actually most of the ideas of what we're making/doing start with her - I just sort of adapt them a bit or add to 'em. Did I mention we're not going until Oct? Yup - 70 more days - oh, that's the other thing we've got - a countdown chain!


Quinn and I wrote Mickey Mouse a letter the other day - letting him know we were going to come and see him in October and that we were so excited. So Quinn went out to check the mail today and found a package from Mickey Mouse. (I have a really cute video of him doing this, but alas, can not share it with the world, because our address is as clear as day on there - and although I realize this whole blogging thing requires some sort of leap of faith - I'm not about to jump that high.)

What's in here?

I see something.

Ohhh....look at this.

A letter from Mickey Mouse! Read it mommy!
(actually - it looks kind of like this - I changed my mind and printed it on 8.5x11 paper and that allowed me to change the layout a bit, but the words, they are the same)

Ohhhh...a camera. Mickey Mouse sent me a camera! Say Cheese Mommy.

Uh yeah, a $60 camera that was on sale at the Disney Store for $17. Shit, if I paid $60 for that piece of crap we'd be packing it up and sending it back to Mickey. But anyway, Quinn loves it and it'll hopefully keep him busy in the airport and on the airplane. We're going to have to tell him he can't bring it with to the parks - no way I'm lugging around that.

After the Kids are Tucked into Bed...

Mike can be found reading this:

And I can be found reading this:

And both of us figuring out new ways to spend more money.

What do you do after your kids are tucked into bed???

Total Randomness

Okay. So it's been awhile since I really journaled on here. What have I been up to? Well, let's see.

Yesterday was the last day of ice skating lessons for Quinn and I. He cried the first two classes and then started to enjoy himself (with a promised milk shake if he would just not cry during class). Once he stopped crying - he found it to be quite enjoyable. His favorite part was trying to stay on the blades while bending his knees to pick up a ball and than "march march march glide" over to the basket to put them in. I enjoyed each of my lessons with Gilbert. That is until yesterday when he attempted to have me do some sort of lunge - basically imagine you're skating along, now pick up one leg, throw it behind you, turn your foot so that the inside of your ankle is facing the ground, bend the other leg, and drag the raised foot along the ice behind you, but do not put that blade on the ground - you need to have the boot part of the ice skate on the ground. It's hard and I am not that flexible. I don't think I ever was. As Gilbert said after my two or three failed attempts, "Well, that's something you can work on." Yes. Yes it is. And today my butt hurts.

We've been planning our first ever family vacation to Disney World. And by we, I mean my friend Amy and I have been going crazy with all the stuff we can plan. Watch out if you ever go on vacation with two teachers and their families. Goody bags for the kids! Clues for them in the morning! Making reservations for character meals. Studying up on what rides are appropriate. Touring plans! Matching Shirts (for the kids)! Shopping! Logistics! Ordering groceries to be delivered to the room! Where can we send Ryan and Mike for beer?

I just purchased another Disney book (Unofficial Guide to Disney World with Kids). This only makes two, but I've borrowed a few others and have been doing much research online here and here. Did I mention we're not going until October? Yeah. October. I'd post more often, but I'm afraid all of my posts would revolve around Disney.

Also - my plate right now has a lot on it. Here's just a few things brewing in my head - things I need to do - book club (I've been able to read on Tuesday mornings), the end of the school year - meaning - report cards/assessment, getting pictures to the Jr. High for the DVD they put together, an end-of-the-year-show/graduation, cleaning up the classroom, packing (everything will be taken out of our school for some major renovations), making a little gift for each student (digital scrapbook page), and our open house at work was Thursday, so that's done, but you know, Maggie's been sick since Friday just replacing that missing spot on my plate o' stress, what else? Oh, an upcoming wedding (no biggy really, just need to get a gift, find something to wear (for me, Mike, and the two boys), Liam's First birthday party - I'm thinking up some themes - bubbles, balls, summery type things, I don't know, my scrapbooks are so behind, my house is a mess, this morning I actually wanted to mop the kitchen floor, but couldn't because I had to catch up on laundry, organize pictures for work, and take care of the kids, oh, and clean up dog puke. I think there's some more on my plate, hiding, behind the work stuff mostly, but it's there - just hidden.

Liam's been eating better, sort of. When given the choice between a real green bean, a real carrot, or a piece of bread - he chooses bread. When given a choice between a real green bean or a real carrot he deliberately picks each up and drops them on the floor. Seriously. It's kind of funny. Kind of. And there's no chance I can actually get that food into his mouth - his tongue is quick to push out anything that he doesn't want in there. He did, however, eat something off the ground from outside today. (Gross! Yes I know! I just couldn't get it - it looked like a tiny piece of a leaf. He was fine. Maybe he didn't even eat it, yeah, he probably missed, he does that a lot.) I was excited last night because Liam ate pieces of my pizza, which, I guess was basically like bread with some tomato sauce on it, but the sauce was flavorful - so that's good. So, we're still feeding him pureed baby food - so that he'll get his veggies in. And I've been really good about putting stuff on his tray for him to try (and he's been really good about picking them up, sometimes bringing them to his lips, and then dropping them onto the floor).

One more thing - this morning Mike took Quinn shopping and Liam napped. In 90 minutes I was able to get a lot done. Bills, laundry, putting away outgrown clothes, putting away winter coats, etc. etc. You know what you can't do when the baby is sleeping? You cannot run to the bank real quick to deposit some checks. Nope. You also cannot run to the post office to mail a few bills. Nope. Both things I thought about doing. "As soon as I finish this, I'll run and ... oh wait, Liam's here."

Good Night Y'all.