Now it Feels Like Christmas!

So Sunday morning was a huge hit in our house. Why, you ask? Elmer & Trixie FINALLY made their debut, after 3 long days of questions about why they hadn't arrived yet. They seem to have started a tradition of bringing us a North Pole breakfast upon their arrival, so I think they were waiting for a morning we were all home.

So Delaney woke me up Sunday & was so excited that they elves had finally made it to Florida! I've been sick for almost 2 weeks, and spend most of my free time as of late trying to hack up one of my lungs, so I was completely exhausted from being up coughing until 2am the night prior so I was thankful she was content to pick a movie and let me get a little more rest since the rest of the house was still sleeping. We watched/listened to "The Secret of the Wings" & once Sophie got up we had our North Pole breakfast & visited with our new company.

Elmer & Trixie Jingle have arrived!

 

Santa usually prints his letter...his printer must be on the fritz!

 

Sophie loves donuts!

 

So does Delaney, but she might be too cool to let you know that...

 

 Then we woke up today to 2 elves climbing our Christmas tree (thankfully no ornaments were harmed in the process) to engage in a lightsaber battle. I bet they loved that our lightsabers we made at the Orlando History Museum weren't too heavy for them!

So as a co-worker posted on my husband's facebook page -- "Now it feels like Christmas!" Let the elf hi-jinx begin!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

Ok, I know, I know!! You're all saying, "Seriously? Can we just have Thanksgiving first?!" Well, as most of you know, I work in the world of retail. It's Christmas time, for many reasons. 1 - I listen to that CD thing back in the Christmas section where you can "sample" the Christmas music. ALL. DAY. LONG. 2. This coming weekend we are kicking off our fun, old fashioned Christmas by: seeing the Osbourne Light Spectacle at Hollywood Studios Friday (I love to see the lights when it's actually COLD out -- yay!!), possibly a visit to see Jolly Old St. Nick himself Saturday & decorating the interior of the house the rest of the weekend. We will be working all Thanksgiving weekend so we can't do our decorating then like a lot of people do, and personally, I don't feel 1 month is enough time to enjoy the tree & everything that comes with it! So since my husband is awesome he lets me get in the Christmas spirit early! I know the visit with Santa is a little early, but we go to see him at a very popular location & with our crazy schedules, I would rather go early than be stuck in an hour line.

Elmer & Trixie "go fish"

 

However, the whole reason of this post was to talk about a few visitors I anticipate will arrive in several weeks. Just like many of you, we have an Elf that spends the holidays with us. We actually have two, one for each kiddo, which works out nicely because the elves seem to have a lot more fun together (& Sophie is probably trouble enough to warrant an elf to herself for reports back to Santa). I know a lot of you follow our Elves through Facebook, but since I have a private facebook page, it's hard to share pictures you might want to show friends & now with the explosion of Pinterest, you won't be able to link to any ideas you love unless they are somewhere a little more accessible.

So -- make sure you subscribe to my blog & invite your friends that have kids & might be interested! Elf happenings will be getting posted (I can't promise daily, like I said, Sophie DOES warrant her own elf) & I'm sure we will have plenty to talk about once Elmer & Trixie arrive!

 

May The Force Be With You This Weekend

Around my house, we are gearing up for a little something called "Star Wars Celebration VI." I think the cool kids call it "CVI," but in my role as mom I am not allowed to be cool and therefore have no idea what to call it other than "that big Star Wars party." My 5 year old gets it. So, Star Wars Celebration is in Orlando this weekend!! I have never been, but it was in Orlando at the Convention Center 2 years ago and here it is again so we are all going this time around. Basically it's a HUGE, Star Wars only convention. Lots of merchandise, exclusives, toys, clothing, etc. Also a lot of famous people in town, tons of people will be at the convention in costume & there will be Droid races & other fun stuff going on. I considered making costumes for all of us, but just back in May we got our new Her Universe shirts & I really wanted to wear that. Her Universe is Ashley Eckstein's company, and she sells, among other things, Star Wars apparel exclusively for females!! A huge hit in a world geared towards men. I love my Princess Leia & Luke shirt -- "Looking for love in Alderaan places."

Will be following up with a recap and hopefully lots of pics from Friday at some point this weekend!

Box of Kleenexes, anyone?

Today was our first day of Kindergarten. And actually, I have some tissues to spare, because the first day wasn't as traumatic as I had envisioned. Delaney was fine, and I made it out of the classroom before one or two tears made their escape. I was sad to see her stay in the classroom, but glad she was brave & was excited to be there. I am really excited about her school, because she gets "specials" or whatever they call them nowadays for an hour each day, except Wednesday, which is early release day. I love that she will get her fill of so many things she loves, like art, music & playing outside. I am still counting down the minutes until it's time to go pick her up though!!

And in other exciting news, I am on week 2 of the Couch to 5k program and I love it. I was actually really disappointed last night because I got ready to run, headed outside and it WAS NOT raining. I got 2 houses away and it started raining pretty heavy so I turned back and finished the day's program in my living room which wasn't as great as it would have been if I got in a real workout. The funniest part was watching Sophie watch me, and when I would run in place, she would run in circles around the family room. Silly goose!

My costume for the Royal Family 5k is almost complete -- I decided rather than to order a sparkle skirt, I would make my own tutu for this event. I'm happy to say my tutu is coming along great!! I love it, but I'm going to have to wait until around November or December to finish it because I'm hoping once I start running regularly that I'll drop a little weight and have to take in the elastic for the waistband. I think the only other thing I need is my Pascal applique! Once my outfit is done and together, there will definitely be pictures!!

Hopefully Sophie will start taking naps again and maybe we'll see a little more of each other!

Run Like A Princess

This is a big week!! I am going to start my Couch to 5k program & prep for the Royal Family 5k during the Disney World Princess Marathon, which is on February 23rd. I am truly going from the couch to a 5k, so I am really excited there is an IPhone app for this! Is there anyone that has tried the app yet? I haven't really looked at it yet because I was waiting to actually start running & didn't want to mess up the program if I "previewed" it and started early. I bought my new shoes at Kohl's this weekend with a 15% off coupon and here in the lovely state of Florida, it was tax-free weekend so I was really excited -- not only about finding a pair of shoes I think have awesome arch support, but awesome arch support at a great price!! Friday is pay day, so I am DEFINITELY registering for the 5k on Friday so I am 100% motivated to make sure I can run this race!

More posts will be coming about my race preparation, as well as my oldest daughter's 1st day of kindergarten (only 2 weeks away!!) & a lot of other fun we have going on this month!!

There Aren't Enough Scoundrels In Your Life

So I'm not sure if my husband fully approves, but I've become a little bit immersed in Star Wars in the last week or two. Usually on the nights we are actually home together, we watch an episode of our favorite show on DVD (Psych, currently on Season 3) because I am so tired by the end of the night we both know I won't make it through anything longer. However, seeing as how we are going to CVI (Celebration 6 -- a huge Star Wars convention) in August, I thought maybe I should brush up on my Star Wars knowledge and asked him if we could watch the movies. I told him to pick which one to start with (Such a seemingly easy decision -- but do we start when Anakin was a boy? Watch all the way through to Episode 3? Start with Luke & Leia's story, then go back to 1 through 3?) My husband says he likes to start with IV, A New Hope, so that's where we began. As I mentioned earlier, I can't make it through much more than an hour so we actually split each movie into 2 nights but I am proud to say we watched all 6 movies! I don't know what it was, but I really loved them this time around. Loved Han & Leia's story more, used the Force to will Anakin to change his actions this time around (I'm sorry to say the Force was not strong with me), and had second thoughts about not making costumes for CVI as I drooled over Padme's gorgeous wardrobe. But I know I'll be excited to wear my Alderaan shirt from Her Universe & since I'm only going one day this year that's ok.

Then I went a little crazy on Etsy. I was supposed to be online setting up my shop, but I did a search for Star Wars and walked away from my computer with this little ditty on it's way...

I put them on the car yesterday and can I just say that they are so much cooler than the generic stick family that was previously residing there.

Then I went ahead and got these that I've had pinned on Pinterest for a while -- 

 So awesome!! They are perfect for us. And now it's time for this Padawan to make her way to bed because my kids don't know the meaning of "sleep in." Good night!

It's Time to Make the Donuts!

Ok, maybe I don't get up the same time the Dunkin' Donuts guy does, but I do feel like all I think about lately is food! What I should eat, what I shouldn't eat. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner for Delaney. Sophie really needs to start eating more solid food!! Really, that's the main focus of my blog today! Sophie is 14 months old and is still eating some baby food. We have had such a terrible journey with changing formulas, SEVERE constipation, finding a baby food she liked, and the fact that the poor kid only has 4 teeth!! For all the issues she's had, she is a happy camper. The only baby food she likes is the Target Brand squeezie pouches. And of course, they clearanced them out at my store. She eats puffs & Cheerios like they are going out of style, but I am still giving her the baby food sometimes because I want to make sure she has all the nutrients she needs.

I guess my problem is also having stuff on hand for her. I am going to bake up some silver dollar pancakes in the morning and freeze the leftovers so I can pull one of those out some mornings. I bought some Nutrigrain bars tonight and gave her one at dinner...she liked it until it started getting gummy on her fingers and then she just wanted to play. She does love cheese and yogurt, but I am a little iffy to give her yogurt because it was one of the foods she had around the time she turned one and we had a lovely case of hives that we don't know what caused it. Thinking it was not food related, as the majority of the bumps were on her knees, feet and arms.

So I'm going to start a list of "safe" foods (meaning we've had them for 3 days straight with no reactions) and when I get a good list I will post it here to share!! Please feel free to comment with your ideas, and I'll add them to the list!

Getting Rid of Weight

Today started my "Getting Rid Of Weight" Challenge. I am challenging myself to actually GET RID of all this weight I am tired of carrying around! As I saw on a friend's pinboard --

My goal is to be able to run the Disney Princess 5k, which isn't until February so I should be fine. I'd like to be able to do the 5k in November for the Wine & Dine at Epcot, and then the Princess 1/2 Marathon, but BABY STEPS! I am so out of shape! I walk all day at work, but tonight I put both girls in the double stroller and walked up and down streets & around cul-de-sacs in my neighborhood to hit a whopping 1.2 miles. I would have gone longer, but I think I must have been walking funny because I could feel a blister forming so I cut off the last cul-de-sac in the neighborhood and turned home. Sure enough, a tiny blister on the inside of my right heel....?? What a weird place for a blister! I was wearing older shoes that the insides of the heels are worn out, so I was wondering if maybe a piece of plastic or something was poking me.

I have been attempting to count calories on my IPhone with the awesome Lose It app, but all of the Easter candy at Target has been taunting me, so I know my totals are off a bit. I have been eating better I think, having a hard boiled egg or an oatmeal muffin for breakfast. I know - what is an oatmeal muffin?? I found this amazing little recipe on Pinterest, and I LOVE these for breakfast. It's from Sugar Free Mom. I make a whole batch, put them in the freezer and wa-la! Breakfast is ready in 30 seconds in the morning. I was thawing them out overnight in the fridge, but have found on the mornings I forgot to transfer one the night before that they thawed just fine from frozen. I put it in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds and can actually sit at the table and eat a healthy, quick breakfast instead of scarfing down a granola bar in the car. I have actually cut out ALL soda from my diet too, which is amazing because my husband and I were both having a coke a day but we finished our last 12 pk. almost 2 weeks ago and I have only had 1 coke since! So here's to hoping my "Get Rid of Weight" Challenge is successful!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Ok, I'll admit I'm a little late! But, the thought of anyone expecting a St. Patty's Day post prompted me to tell my husband I needed a little bit of computer time tonight! So 2 days late is better than never!

So about 2 years ago I found this in one of my Family Fun magazines. They're Rainbow Cupcakes, and probably the closest thing we get to celebrating St. Patrick's Day around my house! (You'd think, being McM's that we would at least have some decorative 4 leaf clovers...) But for the last 2 years on St. Patrick's Day we make these deliciously colorful cupcakes, and they are so easy!! All you need:

And, of course, the ingredients to make your cake -- mine required water, vegetable oil and 3 eggs. Once you mix your cake batter, divide it into 6 separate bowls. I love to use "kiddie" spoons in mine because they are easy for my 5 year old to stir with, and in this particular project, they are just the right amount to spoon into the cupcake liners.

I let Delaney do all of the color calculations, we talk about what colors she needs, and then as she mixes how much she thinks we need of each color and what colors she needs to make the orange & purple.Once all of the colors are mixed, I just use the kiddie spoons to scoop one spoonful into each cupcake liner, starting with the bottom of the rainbow and working my way up. I made 18 cupcakes with mine. In the original article, they used a spoon to smooth each color over the previous, but I don't have the patience for that!! Here are mine after colors purple, blue, green and yellow.


And after all 6 color layers:Bake according to the cupcake directions on your cake mix, and voila!Who can resist a cupcake that pretty? You can always top with fluffy buttercream frosting or cool whip for a cloud effect, but I love yellow cake mix so much that we eat them just like this!

Supermom On The Move

Today, I felt like SuperMom. I don't usually have those moments, you know -- where I feel like I could don a cape and fly up into the clouds. My moments usually consist of "Let's-Watch-A-Movie-Because I'm-Tired Mom" or "Please-Give-Me-Five-Minutes-to-Finish-the-Dishes Mom".

Wednesdays and Thursdays stink in our house. My husband and I work opposite schedules, which leaves him home with the girls Wednesday morning, I get home in the afternoon, hand him the car keys and he heads to work, only to get home late. Thursday is more of the same. Usually I don't do a lot on Thursdays because I have to get ready for work after lunch, and Thursday is just our chill out day. Well, we had another GORGEOUS weather day. So, I got everyone ready and headed out to the porch. Our porch is huge. It's also disgusting. I never take the kids out there because it's so dirty. Part of that problem is because our dryer vent blows onto the porch, so any loose lint lives out there. So, any suggestions to that problem are welcome!! Anyway, Delaney wore her swimsuit and Sophie got to sit in the stroller while I cleaned the porch. No deep cleaning, but I put the long "As Seen On TV" pressure washer thing on the hose, used the sprayer side and rinsed all the pollen off the screens, then cleaned all the dirt, grass, daddy long leg spiders, and lint off the porch. I even took everything but the play house and the glass table off the porch and had Delaney help me clean the toys. Once about 1/2 the porch was clean, I let Sophie down to play and she had a good time with a bucket and a shovel. I just can't believe I got the entire porch done and that's one less thing on the to-do list for this weekend. And now we might be able to enjoy a little bit of our weekend off outside as well!

Make sure to check back tomorrow, with St. Patty's Day around the corner, I'll be posting our favorite snack!

It's Girls Night!!

My daughter calls Wednesdays "Girls Night." I always feel bad for my husband, as I would rather it be family night, but since we work opposite shifts on Wednesday, he's at work and it's been officially dubbed Girls Night. I try to utilize Wednesday to go outside with the girls, and today was no different -- absolutely gorgeous Florida weather so we put on our shoes and headed out. Days like today are a perfect example of why I could never actually leave Florida. 85 degrees & sunny. Of course, I might need reminding of this in August...

Lately I've been trying to run a little on Wednesdays, but I am new to running (translate: I've always hated running) and have found I cannot push the double stroller with both girls aboard for a respectable distance. Delaney's constant questions that only stop for an answer, which I can't provide when I can't breathe, have a little to do with the lack of running today also. So instead we headed out to the swingset and played for almost an hour before we had to head in for dinner.

Tinkerbell (as I am requested to call her when she is in costume) loves the slide! We were missing some screws that we just got, so it's only been up for 2 days. I have to add that sometimes I do call her Tinkerbell or Rapunzel, and sometimes I don't. But I look at it this way -- she's 5. When she's 7, or 8 or 10 -- she won't ask me to call her that. When she's 14 and around her friends, she might look the other way when I call her real name. So Rapunzel for a year or 2 doesn't hurt me.

Sophie was too interested in the grass to pay me any attention. And how cute are those chubby little thighs?! More importantly -- why aren't chubby thighs cute as we get older???