Fairy GodMAW Grants Princess Bella's WISH! Update 12/2 - One more sleep til Disney!

[that's nice]

I just found your PTR and I will be following along! Kids are truly resilient and are stronger than adults. Sounds like you guys are going to have a great trip..... I'm looking forward to hearing all your plans!

 

[StefaniLyn]

I just found your PTR and I will be following along! Kids are truly resilient and are stronger than adults. Sounds like you guys are going to have a great trip..... I'm looking forward to hearing all your plans!

Welcome to our pretrippie! I'm glad you've decided to come along for the ride! I hope to make it an exciting trip for you! You are so correct about the resiliency of kids - Bella's strength and endurance amazes me more each day. Honestly, how many adults are STANDING UP in their crib 2 days after open heart surgery? I'll bet NONE! And then there's Bella, up and running after just 2 days - amazing!

 

[MomTo4+more]

Welcome to our pretrippie! I'm glad you've decided to come along for the ride! I hope to make it an exciting trip for you! You are so correct about the resiliency of kids - Bella's strength and endurance amazes me more each day. Honestly, how many adults are STANDING UP in their crib 2 days after open heart surgery? I'll bet NONE! And then there's Bella, up and running after just 2 days - amazing!

That sounds like Deyki after he had his spleen removed. Two days later he was running down the halls of the hem/onc floor. I was tired from just staying at the hospital. He's the one recovering from major surgery, and he's filled with energy! Their strength is amazing and inspiring.

In another post, you mentioned taking Disney dollars away for whining and fighting. Here's what we are trying today. We are competing for the "sweetest mouth in the house". Whoever is using their speech in the kindest, most encouraging way wins a piece of candy with dinner. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[that's nice]

Welcome to our pretrippie! I'm glad you've decided to come along for the ride! I hope to make it an exciting trip for you! You are so correct about the resiliency of kids - Bella's strength and endurance amazes me more each day. Honestly, how many adults are STANDING UP in their crib 2 days after open heart surgery? I'll bet NONE! And then there's Bella, up and running after just 2 days - amazing!

I totally know what you mean. Our DD (1 at the time) had a Wilms Tumor and needed a nephrectomy (removal of her kidney).... we were in the hospital for a total of 13 days. The night before we left to go home she was given her first dose of chemo. She was finally discharged and when we got home we were trying to keep her relaxing... yea right... she was running around and just being her normal self. It is amazing what kids can endure.... plus they bounce back so much faster than an adult would.

 

[StefaniLyn]

In another post, you mentioned taking Disney dollars away for whining and fighting. Here's what we are trying today. We are competing for the "sweetest mouth in the house". Whoever is using their speech in the kindest, most encouraging way wins a piece of candy with dinner. I'll let you know how it goes!

Definitely let me know how that goes! The stress level is high for us lately and along with that often comes some not-so-sweet mouths in this house! I'd have to include DH and myself in that contest as well!

I totally know what you mean. Our DD (1 at the time) had a Wilms Tumor and needed a nephrectomy (removal of her kidney).... we were in the hospital for a total of 13 days. The night before we left to go home she was given her first dose of chemo. She was finally discharged and when we got home we were trying to keep her relaxing... yea right... she was running around and just being her normal self. It is amazing what kids can endure.... plus they bounce back so much faster than an adult would.

Aren't kids amazing? When you mentioned Wilms tumor, it clicked in my mind that I have read your "ate every character meal" trip report! It was awesome! I'm glad your DD is doing much better now. She's such a CUTIE!

 

[that's nice]

Aren't kids amazing? When you mentioned Wilms tumor, it clicked in my mind that I have read your "ate every character meal" trip report! It was awesome! I'm glad your DD is doing much better now. She's such a CUTIE!

Thanks for reading my TR! I'll be following yours and if you need any suggestions just ask!!!

 

[StefaniLyn]

Thanks for reading my TR! I'll be following yours and if you need any suggestions just ask!!!

Actually, I do have a couple of questions for you. First, what is the fairy godmother list? You mentioned it in post #19.

Also, what is your opinion of the character meal at Grand Floridian? I'm considering doing it because we've never met the step sisters before but I heard they were hilarious. What about the food? G-ma is accompanying us on this trip but doesn't want to spend the $$ on character meals unless the food is worth it. What did you think of it?

Thanks so much!

 

[that's nice]

Actually, I do have a couple of questions for you. First, what is the fairy godmother list? You mentioned it in post #19.

Also, what is your opinion of the character meal at Grand Floridian? I'm considering doing it because we've never met the step sisters before but I heard they were hilarious. What about the food? G-ma is accompanying us on this trip but doesn't want to spend the $$ on character meals unless the food is worth it. What did you think of it?

Thanks so much!

The fairy godmother list can be found here ---> http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=842646&page=218

You can sign your kids up to receive a postcard from their favorite character. You tell your fairy godmother what to write.. or just have them write a generic message. We had someone send our DD a card before our trip... and we sent out 3 to kids while we were there. DD was excited getting a card from Cinderella!

We ate at 1900 Park Fair our first night in Disney. It was cool because we didn't do a park and we got into the Disney spirit!!! We had so much fun there. The stepsisters were a trip and DD loved seeing Prince Charming and Cinderella (her favorite). The food was really good with many selections... I'd have to re-read my TR to see if I even wrote what we ate.LOL You can check out the menu here ---> http://allears.net/menu/men_19d.htm
I just noticed the price had gone up to $36 I think it is worth it.

 

[StefaniLyn]

A thought occurred to Bella yesterday as we were driving home from a birthday party. In the middle of watching Bolt for the millionth time (honestly, we have a library of DVDs in the van but they insist on watching the same one over and over and over again . . . ) she suddenly took off her headphones and curiously asked "Are we going to Disney tomorrow Mama?" Her Disney-hungry puppy dog eyes and the eagerness I could sense in her voice almost caused me to turn south, search my GPS Favorites for Magic Kingdom and head for the World! Yes, MK, Epcot, AK, and HS are all on my faves list in my trusty Nuvi - sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I plug one in just to see how long it would take to make everything right with the world again!

After coming to my senses, I tried to explain to Bella that we were going in 4 months. Well, 4 months may as well be 4 years to a 5 year old! When Bella stuck out her cute little pouty lip and asked "is that soon?," I knew it was time for us to get started on our countdown calendar to help her understand just how many days are left before her Wish Trip.

So today, Bella and I started making the official Griggs Family Wish Trip Countdown!

Step 1 - Bella chose a wrapping paper and we used it to partially cover a piece of foam core board I had laying around from the Science Fair.

Step 2 - I used my Cricut (an electronic die-cutting machine for scrapbooking) and my favorite Mickey Font cartridge to create yellow, black, and silver glitter Mickey Mouse heads as well as letters to spell out "Wish Trip Countdown". Bella removed all the Mickey Heads and letters the from the Cricut mats.

Step 3 - AJ numbered all the red and yellow Mickey Heads. Odd numbers were red and evens were yellow. (Look! A hidden math lesson too! )

Step 4 - Kennedy put adhesive on each of the Mickey Heads.

Step 5 - I cut out small black numbers and adhered them to the special silver glitter Mickey Heads. These are used for benchmark days in our countdown. 90, 60, 30, 21 (3 weeks), 14, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and of course 1! I also adhered the letters to spell out "Wish Trip Countdown" onto their black shadows and then onto our board.

Step 6 - Together, we put each Mickey head onto our countdown board. It was a little melancholy as I enjoyed the project but there sure were a LOT of Mickey heads and that means The World is still a long time away!

The girls adhering the Mickey Heads to our Countdown -

A Close Up of our Countdown. Each Mickey Head represents a day until our Disney Trip. Once all the numbers are removed, we're headed to DISNEYWORLD!

Bench Mark Days get a special silver glitter Mickey Head!

I can't wait to remove this Mickey from our countdown!

The girls did such a great job! A pic of Bella doing her best "Price Is Right" presentation of our Countdown!

Of course, it was only after project was finished that I thought about the size of it and realized that this monstrosity would be decorating our house for the next 4 months. Despite my conscience telling me it ought to go on the back of a door somewhere, I gave in to the girls desire to put it on our refrigerator! So there it will be for the next 120 days, taunting and torturing me as I anticipate our trip day after day, hour after hour.

Those of you who are great with numbers, and those that can simply read my countdown ticker in my signature, have probably already realized that my math doesn't quite add up . Actually, we have over 120 days until our trip. However, we're leaving for a week in Seattle on Thursday and I've explained to the girls that our countdown will officially start after we return on August 5th. So they will spend the next few days finding 120, 119, etc on the countdown and likely arguing over who gets to take the first number off. Oh the joys of summer vacation!

UP NEXT
CHAPTER 9 - CLEARANCE CRAFTS CALL MY NAME - FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT PREVIEW!

 

[Corrine 1973]

I love the calander. So creative. I Soooo want a cricut!!!

My kids ask me at least once a week when we are going to WDW. So we pull out our boring calader (only on white paper) and show them the numbers.

Have one cut story about kids asking if we were ready to go yet. Mia found one of her Princess dress and put it on, she than put on her princess shoes, and grabbed the Princess purse she recieved from the Wish granters. Fully decked out in Princesses she walked into the living room and anouced that she was ready to go to Disney World. She took it pretty well that we wern't going in a while. Unfortunatly I couldn't start the calander yet because we didn't have dates.

 

[StefaniLyn]

I love the calander. So creative. I Soooo want a cricut!!!

My kids ask me at least once a week when we are going to WDW. So we pull out our boring calader (only on white paper) and show them the numbers.

Have one cut story about kids asking if we were ready to go yet. Mia found one of her Princess dress and put it on, she than put on her princess shoes, and grabbed the Princess purse she recieved from the Wish granters. Fully decked out in Princesses she walked into the living room and anouced that she was ready to go to Disney World. She took it pretty well that we wern't going in a while. Unfortunatly I couldn't start the calander yet because we didn't have dates.

I LOVE my Cricut! Favorite scrapbooking tool EVER!

Your story about Mia is so cute! Time is such a difficult concept for young kids to grasp. When we are going on regular vacations, I try not to tell the little ones until a couple of weeks before hand so we only have a few meltdowns when they ask "are we going to _________ now?" and I have to tell them no!

 

[StefaniLyn]

While I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics the other day picking up paper for our Disney Countdown, I happened upon the clearance section. Ok, honestly I didn't "happen upon" it, I specifically targeted that section of the store because I just can't resist a great deal! And boy, did I find some GREAT deals!

I mentioned in some of my previous posts that once we return from our Seattle vacation (we leave Thursday and get back on the 5th), our family will start having a weekly Disney Family Night. Each week we will select one Disney Movie, and the entire evening will be themed around that movie. In addition to watching the movie, we will also have a themed meal and a craft project for the girls to create. One some nights, I am hoping to find a board game or puzzle for the family to do together as well.

It just so happened that Jo-Ann had tons of kids craft projects that could easily be adapted for Disney movies. So being my frugal self and wanting to save money , I started buying stuff in anticipation of our Disney Family Nights. Here's what I bought so far:

For Peter Pan Family Night - I'm not sure what exactly what I will do with these, but I bought 3 @ .50 each:

I'm not sure which movie these will go along with, but they SCREAMED Disney to me so I bought these cute little visors (.50 each) and some glitter paint to decorate them (.97 each) Any suggestions for a movie???

A Bug's Life - 2.97 for the whole set

Cars - also 2.97

The Little Mermaid - .50 each

The following 3 projects will all be used for a princess movie, though I haven't yet determined which project will go for which movie. All of these were .50 each and I bought 3 of each.

And this one will be used for either Jungle Book or Tarzan - .50 each

I'm so excited to get our movie nights started! I think it will provide us some great family time together. DH and I recounted our movie nights the other day and my original 21 (not sure where I got that number from!) is down to a mere 17. After my shopping spree, I already have projects for 9 of our 17 Disney Movie Nights! How am I ever going to narrow down my list of Disney Movie nights to just 17?!?!?

UP NEXT!
CHAPTER 10 - FIRST DISNEY FAMILY NIGHT - CARS!

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

I love your countdown calendar!! What kind of adhesive did you use that will let you remove the Mickey Heads? I'd love to make one of those.

Your bargains from JoAnn's look like a lot of fun!

 

[that's nice]

That countdown calendar is great! Here is a pic of ours from our trip....the night before we left!

I started X-ing it.. but then DD wanted to draw the x's on it. You can see the ones she did. After seeing your, I think I will have to make a better one this time! LOLOL

 

[StefaniLyn]

I love your countdown calendar!! What kind of adhesive did you use that will let you remove the Mickey Heads? I'd love to make one of those.

Your bargains from JoAnn's look like a lot of fun!

I used scrapbook adhesive squares to adhere the Mickey Heads. The wrapping paper background is a super high gloss, so the adhesives stick kinda like post-its are are fairly removeable.

I'm contemplating going back to JoAnn's without a kiddo in tow so I can look through their clearance again I'm hoping they've put more crafty stuff out.

That countdown calendar is great! Here is a pic of ours from our trip....the night before we left!


I started X-ing it.. but then DD wanted to draw the x's on it. You can see the ones she did. After seeing your, I think I will have to make a better one this time! LOLOL

Juliana's Xs are so cute! If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to cut Mickey Heads for you on my cricut and mail them to you! And title letters too!

 

[MomTo4+more]

I love how creative you are. Your countdown calendar is excellent! Love the crafts!

Choosing only some movies is a challenge. I am thinking of doing a movie a night leading up to the trip (not with all the extras each time though). My other thought is a movie marathon while I have a packing marathon!

I'll be watching for more creative ideas after your next shopping trip!

 

[that's nice]

Juliana's Xs are so cute! If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to cut Mickey Heads for you on my cricut and mail them to you! And title letters too!

Wow that's really nice of you! I think I am just going to do a 30 or 45 day countdown calendar. I need to get DW and my creative juices flowing.

 

[Corrine 1973]

[I'm not sure which movie these will go along with, but they SCREAMED Disney to me so I bought these cute little visors (.50 each) and some glitter paint to decorate them (.97 each) Any suggestions for a movie???

STAY TUNED!

So here I was trying to figure out what you can possible use these visors for. Personally with the sparkles already on the visors and the glitter paint it screams to me MAGIC!!!! So my thought is either the Tinkerbell movie or Aladdin.

I love your ideas. After getting home, making dinner, and putting on the movie it is time for bed when the movie is over so we don't have time for crafts. Maybe I can try to do some on mondays in anticipation for the movie or I can have my mom work on it with them.

And now I need to head to JoAnn's and raid their clerence section.

Can't wait to see some pics of your DMFN's!!!!!!!

 

[StefaniLyn]

I love how creative you are. Your countdown calendar is excellent! Love the crafts!

Choosing only some movies is a challenge. I am thinking of doing a movie a night leading up to the trip (not with all the extras each time though). My other thought is a movie marathon while I have a packing marathon!

I'll be watching for more creative ideas after your next shopping trip!

Thank you so much for your compliments. I LOVE your idea of a movie marathon for packing. My packing is so methodical and I'm so finicky that I can't possibly do it while the kids are awake. They're always rifling through the piles or, even worse, adding and subtracting to them without proper authorization ! But if they were preoccupied with a Disney movie marathon while I do the packing, I just may be able to avoid packing at 2 am!!! Thank you for your great idea!

Wow that's really nice of you! I think I am just going to do a 30 or 45 day countdown calendar. I need to get DW and my creative juices flowing.

Send me a PM with if you would like me to make you some Mickey heads for your countdown. Honestly it's so easy for me to make it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes and I'd love to do it for you!

So here I was trying to figure out what you can possible use these visors for. Personally with the sparkles already on the visors and the glitter paint it screams to me MAGIC!!!! So my thought is either the Tinkerbell movie or Aladdin.

I love your ideas. After getting home, making dinner, and putting on the movie it is time for bed when the movie is over so we don't have time for crafts. Maybe I can try to do some on mondays in anticipation for the movie or I can have my mom work on it with them.

And now I need to head to JoAnn's and raid their clerence section.

Can't wait to see some pics of your DMFN's!!!!!!!

I really hate to tell you this, but you and I have been vetoed by a 5 year old!!! I was showing Bella your post with the picture of the visors and aksing if she would prefer to watch Tinkerbell or Jazmine (to Bella, everything in Disney revolves around the Princesses so she renamed the "Aladdin" movie "Jazmine" ) when we decorate the visors. Bella looked me like I was nuts and said "Mama, That is not a Jazmine hat, it's for Sharpay!" I gave myself a mental slap on the forehead and wondered why I didn't think of it first ?!? High School Musical! Of course - they're totally Wildcat colors! So I thank you much for the idea, but apparently my 5 year old's creative mind works better than my own and as this is Bella's Wish Trip, we'll decorate the visors on HSM Family Night.

I'm too am worried about how and when we are going to fit Disney Family Nights in at our house. I hope you can find a day that fits in with your family's schedule! Getting grandma in on the fun sounds like a great idea!

Have fun shopping at JoAnn's!

 

[Corrine 1973]

Oh no, I've been vetoed by a 5 year old!!! I feel depressed, I feel unhappy, I feel. . .she is totally right. It is Sharpay!

How could I have missed that.

I guess what they say is right, out of the mouths of Babes. . .

I guess we have learned one lesson here. Ask our kids if they have any idea's, because they probably have the perfect one.

Just raided Walmarts clerence and will try JoAnn's after work. I'll show some pics in my thread later tonight if I have a chance. And by the way, I blame you for my sudden draw to the clerence sections.