A 2009 Magical Christmas Anniversary Pre-Trip Report

[raider97]

Down to 11 days!!


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[raider97]

Down to 10 days!!


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[creativeamanda]

I'm excited, too! Can you believe we are so close?!?

 

[raider97]

Down to 9 days!!


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[DisneyMom14]

I've been really distracted lately but I'm back to do the happy dance with you!!!!

 

[raider97]

8 more after today!


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I promise to be back later with some updates and pictures!!

 

[raider97]

I made two of these... one for our friends' little boy who is 18 months old and one for my cousin's little boy who is also 18 months old

The girls' shirts for the pirate makeover. I got these at Target at Halloween!!

 

[happenin2you]

if i knew how to give you a bouncing holiday mickey i'd so do it! but i'm not that skilled.... but i am super excited for you to be leaving soon! the shirts are the cutest things! you are so creative. you'd make a great kinder teacher =) enjoy the trip. i don't know how you've managed to keep it secret from the kids for so long. you are amazing! i can't wait to hear about their reactions. until then, i have 1 final down, 3 to go. hope to hear from you soon!

 

[raider97]

I can't wait to hear about the kids' reactions! Also, TBH, I probably would have done the merchandise credit, too.

I really need to get to work on those surprise boxes!!

I'm excited, too! Can you believe we are so close?!?

I know!! Wow, this last month has flown by!

I've been really distracted lately but I'm back to do the happy dance with you!!!!

Thanks!! When do you all arrive again? We are so close!!! How are you all surprising the kids?

if i knew how to give you a bouncing holiday mickey i'd so do it! but i'm not that skilled.... but i am super excited for you to be leaving soon! the shirts are the cutest things! you are so creative. you'd make a great kinder teacher =) enjoy the trip. i don't know how you've managed to keep it secret from the kids for so long. you are amazing! i can't wait to hear about their reactions. until then, i have 1 final down, 3 to go. hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks! I hope to post their reactions on Wed. before we leave. We are letting them open the surprise boxes, disguised as Christmas presents, on Tuesday night. I can't wait. We don't leave until Wed. evening so I should have time to post Wed. morning!!

Good luck on your remaining finals!!

Stephanie

 

[Happydog]

Oh your Tshirts are just amazing!!!!!!!! Adorable!!! Love them!

I will be sure to keep on a lookout for those pirates!

You must be feeling the same crunch I am !!!! YIKES! Trying to get it all done! But it is going to Disney afterall, so that makes it all the more special!

 

[raider97]

7 more after today!


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[raider97]

We finally got our tree up on Saturday. I was starting to worry if we didn't get it up this past weekend it might not go up at all. Yesterday my middle dd got really upset at me when she asked when we were putting up our outside decorations and I said we weren't going to this year. We don't want for them to be off during our trip so people might realize we aren't home. And we could put them on a timer, but that seems like a lot of work when we aren't even going to be here for most of the time. And it is really hard to explain your reasoning to her when the trip is still a surprise to them.

One more funny thing.... the teachers of course know we are going and are keeping our secret. But since the kids don't know I have to keep up the act. So I am sending money in for a pizza party for my youngest when she won't be there, plus buying and wrapping Christmas presents for gift exchanges for both of them. Crazy!! My oldest daughter was really upset I didn't sign up to bring anything to her class party, it is on one of the days when we will be gone. I finally got her to tell me she thought if I didn't sign up for anything I couldn't come. I ended up telling her that I promised her that if she was at her Christmas party I would be there too. Whew!!! It is getting harder to dodge these moments. lol!!

Here is our tree.....

And a couple of months ago I had been looking for some mickey stocking to take with us, but I didn't want to spend a fortune. Well then I saw on happydog's pre-trip report some adorable stocking she found at Target. So I ran to our store and sure enough they didn't have them so I went ahead and ordered them online. Here they are..... I put them up and then we will pack them. They are so adorable. Thanks again for the shopping tip!!

I have more to update you guys on, but I have got to get to the store before I pick up my older two dd s from school. So it will have to wait until later. Hope everyone has a great day!

Stephanie

 

[raider97]

Oh your Tshirts are just amazing!!!!!!!! Adorable!!! Love them!

I will be sure to keep on a lookout for those pirates!

You must be feeling the same crunch I am !!!! YIKES! Trying to get it all done! But it is going to Disney afterall, so that makes it all the more special!

Thanks! I am really happy with how the shirts turned out. I still want to make myseld a sweatshirt and put some graphics on the kids hoodies. But for the most part I am done with shirt making. I still have a ton to get done too. Hopefully, it will all start to come together soon!! It has to, right??

Stephanie

 

[DisneyMom14]

AHH! T-shirts are SOOOOO CUTE!!!!
Can you believe we are almost there!!!???? It is sooo hard to keep this a secret!!! It is killing me!!! I'm officially packing in secret now! If DD didn't know how to read, some of this would be easier.

 

[Happydog]

Oh my goodness your tree is lovely!!!! How beautiful!!! I love the bows, I gotta do that next year...

Oh it totally all needs to get done and it will I am sure! I envision several late nights!!! Your stockings look so festive!!!!

 

[DisneyMom14]

Your house, tree, and decorations are BEAUTIFUL!
We are leaving on Wednesday (16) stopping overnight, and arriving on Thursday (17). I need to go back and recheck our iteneraries to see when we might be in the same park. It would be cool to say "hi!"

 

[creativeamanda]

Your tree (and house, for that matter) is absolutely beautiful!

7 (really 6) days! YAY! We are soooo close!

 

[MeMom]

Here is our tree.....

And a couple of months ago I had been looking for some mickey stocking to take with us, but I didn't want to spend a fortune. Well then I saw on happydog's pre-trip report some adorable stocking she found at Target. So I ran to our store and sure enough they didn't have them so I went ahead and ordered them online. Here they are..... I put them up and then we will pack them. They are so adorable. Thanks again for the shopping tip!!

Looks very pretty. We have those stockings, as well.

Great job on the shirts!

 

[raider97]

6 more after today!


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[raider97]

First of all, I don't know how many of you remember how determined I was to rent a double stroller since we had to carry two of our little ones out of Sea World on 4th of July. Well, I went to order one from Orlando Strollers, great prices by the way, and dh told me he didn't want me to. He didn't want to mess with the double on the buses. Plus he thinks our kids are old enough to walk. So we made a deal. I would take our umbrella stroller which we would use as needed and then we would rent a single stroller if we need it. I hope it will work out ok. The umbrella is fine for my younger two, both walk most of the time, and they both weigh a little over 30 lbs. My oldest weighs about 45 lbs or so, but she is a real trooper. So hopefully this will work. I don't really want to spend $16+ a day for a stroller, but I don't want a cranky dh either so we will try it out. I did go buy a basic new umbrella stroller from Target. When I pulled ours out I noticed one side has a rip and I would rather pay $20 here for a basic one than $40 at WDW for a basic one.

My second update is regarding the Candlelight Processional package. I had been hesitant to book this one since they doubled the price this year, but I decided to go ahead and book it since I wanted to see it and they had the new "preferred" viewing area for Illuminations. Well, I have been reading a ton of posts about how crowded the preferred viewing area is and how hard it is to get a good view if you arrive late. We were planning to go to the last showing which would put us arriving at the viewing area late so I figured we wouldn't be able to get very good seats. And then people have been saying you need to line up 45 minutes early even with the reserved seating. I started to think it was more of a hassle than it was worth. So I dropped our Candlelight Processional Package for the 17th. I moved Teppan Edo to alate lunch reservation and we will see how busy the standby line for the 5 p.m. show is. Plus I have been reading some weather reports about how it might be colder the beginning of the next week so we may want to spend the morning swimming or come back to the resort early for their campfire. I think it will just give us some more freedom for the day.

My third update is I finally ordered a cake for Woody's (Chris) birthday. I ordered a Mickey head cake, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, with an inscription that will say Happy 4th Birthday Christopher. I ordered for our dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe on the 23rd. Let me see if I can find a link to a picture of the cake.....

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31720981&postcount=19

That's all for now.... Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

Stephanie