Bringing the Magic Home for Christmas! - Update 9/6 Lots of updates!

[newtodis]

Travel tissues
Ponchos
Hand sanitizer
Baby wipes
Eye drops
Glow sticks
Mister fans
Stickers to pass out
Candles
Fabreeze
Visors for boys
Sunglasses for boys
Sunglasses for Lynn
Jeans for Lynn
Tennis shoes for Lynn
Backpack
Lysol wipes
Paper towels
Napkins
Straws
Plastic bags
Plastic containers
Laundry soap
Dish soap
Dishwasher soap
Fabric softener/dryer sheets
T-shirts to make
Supplies for autograph books
Pins to trade
Lanyards

 

[newtodis]

Frozen veggies
Meatballs
Bagged ceasar salad
Turkey breast
Ricotta cheese
Cool whip
Hamburger
Hot dogs
Cheese sticks
String cheese
Chicken patties
Chicken breast
Shredded cheese
Pepperoni
Cubed ham
Bacon
Sausage
Veggie dip
Milk
Eggs
Yougurt
Lunch meat
Cinnamon rolls
Sliced cheese
Tub butter
Stick butter
Biscuts

 

[newtodis]

Cookbook
Crockpot
Paper towels
Napkins
Dish soap
Laundry soap
Fabric softener/dryer sheets
Sponges
Straws
Reusable Water Bottles
Plastic containers
Plastic bags
Plastic wrap
Aluminum foil
Hand soap
Lysol
Lysol wipes
Candles
Dishwasher soap
Stamps
Postcards
Addresses
Phone chargers
Batteries
Highlighter
Sharpies
Pens/pencils
Notepad
Citronella candles
Umbrellas
Camera battery charger
Night lights
Coupons
Directions
Playing cards
Trash bags
Grocery bags (for wet stuff)
Britta pitcher with filters

 

[newtodis]

Mickey ears
Mister fans
Snack containers
Bottle toppers (Mickey head with straw)
First aid bag
Sunscreen
Wipes
Bubbles
Glow sticks
Coloring pages
Crayon travel packs
Stickers
Lanyards
Pins to trade
Autograph books
Sharpie pens
Disney bag
Cars bag
Batteries
Small screwdriver (to change batteries)
Penny/quarter rolls
Pressed penny book

 

[newtodis]

Alright...you know I love my lists! In an attempt to try and get some new pressed pennies (smashed money as my kids call it), I found this listing of the pressed penny machines in WDW:

http://www.presscoins.com/Listings/WDWCondensed.pdf

It looks very informative and kept very up to date!

I'm going through some of my old threads today from our last trip in Dec 08 to see what I did then and what I'm missing this time!

 

[newtodis]

Alright...here's yet another change to our trip (which will probably change a million more times along the planning road): We have another traveler going with us!!

Dan's mom will be flying into Orlando (probably) and we'll get her from the airport and she's going to spend some time with us at Disney!!!!

She's been with us before (September 2008 if I remember right) and we had a great time. The boys adore her and she's really a big help on trips. Another set of hands is always a blessing!!

She won't know for 100% sure for a bit yet - it will depend on work and some other stuff but we're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll be able to come at least for a few days! We've got more than enough room in the house that we're renting so the more the merrier!

I had also invited my mom at the same time we invited her mom. I just think the grandmas would have a blast in Disney while the boys are so young and truly just love the magic and characters and everything else. I hope my mom will be able to come - I believe she's been to Disneyland when she was VERY young. To be able to have them spend the time with the kids at the happiest place on Earth just seems like a great idea.

Now, I have to tell you that Dan and his mom (and the rest of his family) are VERY close. I think that's lovely - I really do! I am not close to my family at all so it's so hard sometimes for me to relate to them because we're so opposite. I'm trying to get better, I really am, it's just a hard process. I grew up in a "rough" life with physical abuse, spending time in foster care, our house being foreclosed on, raped at 17, just a long, long little life I've had so relationships are just not easy for me at all.

Some day I would love my dad to come down and go to Disney with the boys too but I don't forsee that happening. He's only ever seen Corbin at my wedding 5 years ago (Corbin was 9 months old) and he's never seen Carter in person. We send Christmas cards and such but that's about it. It hurts so much to know that my kids don't have a great relationship with their grandparents but makes me even more thankful for the relationships they do have and this Disney trip will be a special one with Grammy!

So now I need to go through and update my lists and find something for Grammy's basket at the house and make sure we include her on the plans and decisions. The best part is that she pretty much goes with the flow and doesn't usually have a big long list of things she wants to do. We try to make sure that she's always got her time to do whatever she wants since it's her vacation too.

We haven't told the boys yet and probably won't until the trip is much, much closer. I just can't take the current "is Grammy coming today?" and she'll be here on Friday! Last time she came with us, we didn't tell them at all! She showed up the morning after we got to Disney. The boys went to bed and Dan went to get her from the airport. When the boys woke up, there was Grammy!!! What a super fun surprise!!! So, I don't know if we'll tell them before we leave or not.

A lot of it will depend on when her flight will come in. Ideally we would pick her up on our way through but I don't know if I'll have the room in the van for her! Thankfully it's not a far drive if that plan doesn't work out to run to the airport and get her. Normally we'd just have her fly here and ride down with us but it's usually cheaper to fly into Orlando than our little airport. I'm not sure with the holiday and all if that will be the case. It might be cheaper for her to fly in here to Savannah before Thanksgiving. I'm sure she'll look into all the different options as it gets closer.

We also have $10 off coupons from AirTran (I think!) that we got from boxes of Little Debbie snacks recently. I'll have to dig those out for her this weekend and maybe she'll be able to use those as well.

 

[newtodis]

Thankfully this weekend was supposed to be a pretty quiet one. I guess Carter didn't like that plan and wanted a bit of excitement. He got the stomach flu (second time for our family this "season") Friday evening and pretty much all day Saturday. He was incredibly bummed out because they were going to go to the biggest Easter egg hunt in our area at a local church - like 50,000 eggs. Dan took Corbin since he was fine and Corbin had an awesome time!!!

(pictures to come as soon as I get them off the camera!)

Saturday was pretty nice - sunny and warm - so Corbin spent a lot of time outside. Carter just laid around and rested. I cleaned the boy's room and rearranged furnature in there while Dan and Corbin were at the egg hunt. Then I worked on the spare room and boy's bathroom. I started the living room and kitchen but the 10 loads of laundry kept me the most busy Saturday!

I finished the laundry on Sunday (I hate folding laundry!!) and tried to get some Easter stuff organized since I knew we would be super busy this week. Dan and I helped the Easter Bunny out a bit by stuffing some eggs for a little egg hunt we're doing with the boys Sunday morning. Then we stuffed eggs with the boys for their classes this week for their egg hunt on Thursday.

I guess Corbin didn't want to feel left out so he got sick last night but was fine this morning (I think a lot of it was nerves from going to Carter's "school" this week - he thinks his teacher will be mad at him for going to another school) and Dan's home sick today.... I've been praying every night that it skips me. I HATE being sick....(not that anyone likes it!)

So tonight we'll just see how everyone's feeling. I've got to go grocery shopping for this weekend yet this week and finish cleaning the house. Dan's family should be in early Friday morning.

Friday Dan and his brother and possibly a couple of other guys are going golfing. Firday night is our anniversary dinner (almost complete - missing the m&ms I wanted to order and Dan wasn't a fan of....by the time he came around, it was too late and they wouldn't have been here in time! ). Saturday our neighborhod is having an egg hunt so we'll take the kids over there to that and possibly out on the boat of a friend for a couple of hours to see some sharks and dolphins (boys love that stuff! ) I'm not sure what we're doing Saturday night just yet other than coloring eggs....I'm sure we'll figure out something. Sunday morning we're letting the boys open their Easter baskets and doing a small egg hunt at the house. Then we'll have Easter "lunch" and just hang out before they have to leave and head back north to the cold. Dan and his brother and nephew will probably golf Sunday afternoon while Dan's mom and I hang out with the kiddos. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend this weekend - lots of sun and pretty warm - so I'm sure it will be a good time!!

I'm excited to make Easter dinner (a very early dinner...probably at like 3) for everyone. It will be two other families, Dan's family that's visiting and our family - 13 people total. I love cooking and having people over so it should be pretty fun!!

Alright...I need to try and get some work done this week....it's very hard. The three day weekend is on everyone's mind this week for sure!

 

[ethansmommy]

WOW!!! You are one busy lady!!! That will be so fun for the boys to have the grandmas at disney with them. We were lucky enough to bring along my mom on our last trip and it was so helpfull having an extra set of hands and being able to have some alone time. Sorry your family came down with the stomach bug (again no less). Hopefully it will miss you. Oh poor Carter had to miss out on the easter egg hunt, hopefully his brother brought him home a couple of eggs. We luckily (knocking on wood as we speak) have not gotten that nasty bug at all this year. We are keeping it pretty low key this year for easter. Going to the in laws sunday morning for breakfast after we do our easter thing at home then its off to my parents for easter dinner. My mom is making galumpkis (stuffed cabbage) this year instead of ham which I am so gratefull for because I feel like we eat ham all the time. Do you make anything special for easter?? Thank you for posting the link for the pressed pennies, we tried doing this last year with Ethan but we just ran out of time. I still have his little tube I made with all the money still in it.
~Jen

 

[newtodis]

WOW!!! You are one busy lady!!! That will be so fun for the boys to have the grandmas at disney with them. We were lucky enough to bring along my mom on our last trip and it was so helpfull having an extra set of hands and being able to have some alone time. Sorry your family came down with the stomach bug (again no less). Hopefully it will miss you. Oh poor Carter had to miss out on the easter egg hunt, hopefully his brother brought him home a couple of eggs. We luckily (knocking on wood as we speak) have not gotten that nasty bug at all this year. We are keeping it pretty low key this year for easter. Going to the in laws sunday morning for breakfast after we do our easter thing at home then its off to my parents for easter dinner. My mom is making galumpkis (stuffed cabbage) this year instead of ham which I am so gratefull for because I feel like we eat ham all the time. Do you make anything special for easter?? Thank you for posting the link for the pressed pennies, we tried doing this last year with Ethan but we just ran out of time. I still have his little tube I made with all the money still in it.
~Jen

We always seem to be super busy. It's not usually a bad thing but I would love a day to sleep in and not have to "catch up" on housework or run a million errands!

I still don't know if my mom will go or not...I'm guessing not but hoping she will for the boy's sake. The extra hands are great!!

I think (hoping!) that I managed to escape the bug this time!! I'm sad that my babies were sick but so thankful I didn't get it!!

Corbin had a good time at the egg hunt and offered to share his candy with Carter which was very sweet!

We don't make anything special. I'm not really that great of a cook and we don't really have a "hand me down" meal or recipie from my family. I'm just doing ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean cassarole, corn cassarole, stuffing, plain 'ole corn, rolls, apple pie, peach cobbler and whatever else I come up with between now and then. I've got at least 12 people to feed so I've got to have some options. Of course we'll have a TON of hard boiled eggs. I'm getting each of the kids a dozen to color (our two boys, nephew and best friend's daughter who just turned a year old). I was thinking about making cut out cookies with the kids since Dan's nephew doesn't do a lot of that stuff with his family at home. It's something fun that all kids like to do.

Yeah we've always done the pennies in the past when we come to them. I'm thinking since we'll be there for 10 days we'll have lots more time to do "other" stuff instead of running from one ride to another or trying to cram stuff in.

Unfortunetly not a lot of planning right now as far as the trip goes....just waiting for the park hours to come out!! Hopefully November's will be out soon and I will be able to start getting an idea of where we'll go and when to try and fit ADRs in.

I had to call this morning and up our catering order for Friday night by another five people. Another family's coming and I'm hopnig to have left overs to not have to cook on Saturday The cake's getting dropped off at 2 so I've got to keep hungry boys out of it until after dinner...that should be easy NOT!

Well today Corbin had a field trip at "baby school" as he calls it to go swimming. Carter was heart broken that he couldn't go so hopefully he's over that when I pick him up. Tomorrow is their egg hunt and party at "baby school" so Dan and I are going to that. We're also having a pot luck here at work so I've got to come up with something tonight to make for that for Dan and I to bring along with baking 48 cupcakes for the kid's party tomorrow. Alright...off to finish up work and get the kids to get home and start baking!

 

[newtodis]

Hey y'all! Happy Easter!!

In laws just left and we're all fighting our after lunch nap! I'm suffering from my attack of the sun shine from Friday and Saturday. (I'm allergic to the sun and break out in small hives and get terrible cold sore/blister things all around my lips when I'm in the sun) I took the kids to the little local beach on Friday afternoon for about an hour and a half and felt ok on Saturday so I though maybe this summer wouldn't be as bad as last year. Not so much....We were in and out on Saturday and I could feel it coming on throughout the day while we were in Savannah. By the time we got home my lips were all swelled up and I had to take Benadryl.....which of course knocks me out. Poor Carter had fallen asleep just after 6 last night and we had to wake him up to color eggs last night. Then I fell into bed until about 7 this morning which is unheard of for me! (almost 11 hours straight of sleep)

It was great to have everyone over Friday night and today but it's also nice to have a nice quiet house again too!! Dan and I have decided we're not doing anything next weekend at all that we don't need to do. I think the kiddos will also appreciate it. They're worn out too from the running around and being busy.

Well, I just wanted to give a quick non-trip update. I'll have pictures up soon and start to get some trip plans done. I've also got to get to work on Corbin's birthday party and our MI trip in just three short months!

 

[ethansmommy]

Oh no you poor thing thats terrible about the sun. How do you manage it while you are at disney?? Does sunscreen help at all?

 

[newtodis]

Oh no you poor thing thats terrible about the sun. How do you manage it while you are at disney?? Does sunscreen help at all?

Yeah it's not fun at all. It started last summer and pretty much the only way to keep it from happening is staying out of the sun altogether. I wish sunscreen helped! I looked at some clothing today that's supposed to be "sun safe" but it's crazy expensive and very challenging to take care of so I guess we'll have to see about that....I just hate missing out on everything during the summer. It seems like if I'm out first thing in the morning or last thing at night it's not so bad or if I'm only out for a few minutes. I can usually tell when it's too long because my skin feels like it's on fire with tons of little pricks/needle pokes all over...I look like a hot mess today with my dried out lips. Tomorrow they'll crack and peel and Wednesday I'll try to get back to looking semi normal. It will be gone by the weekend, just in time for me to stay out of the sun again!

When we were at Disney in September, I wore a visor a lot (I hate hats and visors) and that seemed to help a little bit. I also always cover myself in sunscreen as well and try to wear long pants/shirts to cover as much as I can. Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem in Nov/Dec.

Usually it's not too bad. The worst parts honestly are hearing my kids say they can't get a kiss from mommy because of her sores and being so self concious about my face while I'm trying to "recover" from the outbreaks. Everything I've read has said the only possible way to not break out is to stay out of the sun altogether..... Another "treatment" is to try tanning in a tanning bed because it's different UV rays and you're exposing your body to short doses of it. I used to tan all the time but haven't since I've had kids....I just have better things to spend my money on then slowly baking myself from the inside out

Hoping for a very low key weekend this weekend to recover for the sun attack and our visitors. It's our community garage sale this weekend so I'll walk around a bit to look for some awesome bargins then it's back home for the rest of the weekend.

 

[newtodis]

Since we finally have a weekend where we have NOTHING to do, I'm spending some time updating with pictures. In my TRs in the past, I've put tons of pictures in them and I'm finally getting around to adding pictures here. I'm also going to add some other pictures to the next post of stuff I've gotten so far for our trip.

About a month ago, it was Corbin's "Opening Day" for baseball:

Of course that same day, Corbin had a birthday party to go to out on the Island so it was another busy day for us. He had a good time bowling and Marcia and Stanley (Randy) joined Carter and I for bowling.

We had lots of Easter celebrations - Corbin had a party at school:

Then he went to a local egg hunt while I was home with Carter while he had the stomach bug again...

We had to make cupcakes for both of them to take for parties on Thursday:

Then Corbin got another egg hunt at Carter's "school" since he was there while school was on break:

Then family showed up for the weekend and we hit the beach!

We celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks early (it's not until the 16th) while family was here with a yummy Disney cake and Carter got to love on his girlfriend (our friend's daughter who just turned a year old):

We had another egg hunt in our community:

 

[newtodis]

From there we had lunch with pirates:

We came home after hitting the beach and colored eggs (poor Carter had fallen asleep and had to be woken up to take part...)

So now that we've had time to recover from the family and holidays and all, it's back to "normal" life and trying to get things organized. I'm going to finish updating my Disney binder today, hopefully join Tour Guide Mike this weekend and continue to debate buying a Passporter. I'm also going to show you some of the stuff that I've already got for our upcoming trip (my tote's almost full already!!).

 

[newtodis]

Ok, enough non-trip pictures for today!

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the Mickey Moms Club asking me to fill out a survey and see if I could host a Disney party at my house. Well, on Tuesday night I came home to a "big red box" and Corbin ripped into it right away!

Inside the box we found all kinds of goodies:

Corbin was thrilled and couldn't wait to tell everyone about the "awesome" Disney stuff we got!!

Instead of having a huge party at my house (which I love to do but have had a lot of lately!), I've kind of been just approaching people I know love Disney and giving them some stuff. This has created some interest from those around and has given me more people to talk with about Disney and what a great time we have there. Since I'm giving the stuff to people I know enjoy Disney, they've jumped in on the conversation and helped "sell" Disney to others and get them interested.

Since I was organizing my Disney presents, I went through my Disney tote to see what I already had set aside for the boys and park stuff. So, here's what I've got so far:

Bunches of paper products from having company last weekend:

Water bottles from the dollar store so I don't care if they get lost or left at the park:

Some pool toys - rings, balls, dive balls, squiters and stuff:

Some things to help keep everyone quiet in line (Rubic cubes - full size and minis, bubbles, bouncey balls, light sticks and some little ball catching things)

Park supplies - fans, ponchos, pal Mickey, pressed penny book and money tubes and Mickey ears

To help keep the boys quiet on the trip down and when we're waiting for parades, fireworks or meals to be cooked, these coloring pages, notebooks and crayons are life savers sometimes!

I've also got stuff for the boys - Cars cups, activity books (Nemo and Cars), just all kinds of little things to keep in the bag if I need something to distract or reward them or leave at the house for Mickey to give to the boys

So that's what I've got so far. I've got to keep ticking things off the list over time so I'm not spending all of my trip money on stuff for the trip. It's easier for me to spread the costs over for the next several months so I'll add more pictures and stuff as I add to my tote.

I've also decided that we're going to take some stickers with us on this trip to share with other kids/people to help spread some Disney magic. I found some decent priced stickers here:http://www.medibadge.com/_3_00_Value_Stickers_C479.cfm. I've never ordered from them before but am going to keep an eye open for a shipping code or something from them. $3/roll for stickers doesn't seem too expensive to me but the $8.95 shipping or whatever it was seemed a bit high for the amount I wanted to spend. I couldn't find anything on ebay to get them that way so I think this is a good place - I'm just going to look for a deal on shipping.

I'm going to "check out" for awhile and finish putting my Disney binder together. I've made a ton of copies and needed to get more page protectors to finish my job. I'd had the binder stuck in my Disney tote so nothing got lost and today seems like a good day to finish it up.

I'm also going to go through my ideas and suggestions and work on coming up with some ideas for some scavenger hunts. Once I get some ideas, I'll post them. I think I'm going to have to get some ideas or probably some answers to some of my ideas. This is my first go 'round for something like this so I'm not 100% sure what I want to do. Ideally, it will be something free for all of us to do or give the kids like $5 each on the days they want to do the hunt. I also don't know how to "collect" the answers. Since they are "kids" we won't have a digital camera for each of them. I'm going to keep looking at garage sales over the summer to see if I can find anything cheap but decent for the kids to use during the trip.

Alright...off to start dinner (meatload and cheesy potatoes - one of DH's favorites!) and work on my projects. Hopefully more updates soon!!!

 

[newtodis]

Not sure why some of the pictures are sideways - sorry about that!!

 

[ethansmommy]

[/CENTER]

This is such a cute pic of the boys. Is it just me or is that easter bunny a little scary looking?? I love Carter's cowboy boots!! Corbin looks like he has super long legs, he looks tall for a 5 year old.

Looking at all of your supplies you have already gotten reminds me that I really need to get going on my stuff. I think I am going to have to take a trip to the dollar store and see what kind of stuff I can find. They always seem to have a good selection of disney stuff.

~Jen

 

[ethansmommy]

Forgot to ask this above but what is the Mickey Moms Club?? Is it the same as the moms panel that answer the questions?

 

[newtodis]

This is such a cute pic of the boys. Is it just me or is that easter bunny a little scary looking?? I love Carter's cowboy boots!! Corbin looks like he has super long legs, he looks tall for a 5 year old.

Looking at all of your supplies you have already gotten reminds me that I really need to get going on my stuff. I think I am going to have to take a trip to the dollar store and see what kind of stuff I can find. They always seem to have a good selection of disney stuff.

~Jen

Yeah I don't know why they can't make a good Easter Bunny costume or they're so expensive that no one will buy/rent them!

Carter's boots are from Walmart - they're Buzz and Woody.

Corbin is very tall and has very long legs. He makes a point to measure himself on me all the time to see how much longer until he's bigger than me!

I love the dollar store! They've always got Disney stuff or just stuff that will serve it's purpose and I don't feel terrible about loosing it or leaving it behind. Of course, the cheap stuff usually makes it home and I loose something I wanted to bring home!

Forgot to ask this above but what is the Mickey Moms Club?? Is it the same as the moms panel that answer the questions?

Mickey Moms Club is like a group of moms (from my understanding of it all) that applied for the mom's group that answers questions on the Disney website but didn't make the "final cut". You can check this link out for more party details too: http://www.momselect.com/mickeymomsclub/. There are some pretty cute ideas!

 

[newtodis]

I've added a ton of information to our Nov/Dec planning thread - check them out here: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35482027&postcount=31. There are tons of links and phone numbers there so hopefully they'll help someone out. I think I'm just going to print that post off before I leave and keep it in the car with me in case I need any of the numbers.

I'm waiting as patiently as I can for the hours to come out so I can really start planning. I'm so ready to start figuring out what park on which day, picking ADRs and figuring out when we're going to MVMCP.

I'm also looking for a cheap digital camera. I want to get one for Corbin before we leave so he can take some "decent" pictures before we leave. I'm thinking about having him put something together to take back to school to show his "educational" trip and some things he learned while he was gone. I don't quite trust him with my camera that we spent about $800 on so I've got to find something a little cheaper and easier for him. I might "hand him down" my old Kodak camera and get myself a decent point and shoot camera.

I'm also hinting heavily at Dan for an iPod Touch before we leave...I've been asking for one for awhile now and I really want to be able to use the apps for park lines and stuff so hopefully he won't let me down....