Only 615 Days and Counting!!! ***UPDATE 6-21*** complete! New PTR added

[Denovagirl]

dang it--doesn't the police dept understand that we need to have a DIS meet when we're all there? geez!

That's what I'm sayin'!!!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

That's what I'm sayin'!!!!

dang it--doesn't the police dept understand that we need to have a DIS meet when we're all there? geez!

I can't believe the police department doesn't understand how big of a deal a Disney trip is, especially when we are trying to get a dismeet going?

Oh well, that is too bad. Maybe someday we can make a meet up work!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Which means is ADR day! Which also means.... 6 months until our trip!

I have been totally MIA around here this month so I am going to fill you in on some real life stuff as well as Disney stuff so be prepared for me to be a little! Sorry for my absence and sorry for the nature of this update!

First of all, I have not been near a computer lately but I have been around on my phone. I do not like to post comments on here from my phone (I always make a bunch of typos and my phone is old and sloooow!) so, if I follow your TR or PTR I have been reading along, but not commenting, and of course if we are FB friends I check that from my phone too! So, I am up to date with most of you, now lets get you up to date with me....

This month has become a crazy mess mostly because I decided that this month we were going to do some MAJOR spring cleaning. My DH and I tend to be bit of hoarders. We prefer to think of ourselves as sentimental, but really we just hate throwing things out. I have developed a new plan to get our home organized and totally clutter free top to bottom (although we are actually working bottom up, but you get the idea, right?) So, we pulled everything out of the basement and made three piles, Keep, donate, sell. Everything we are keeping is now in a large, and labeled plastic tub, and it is amazing! I also have always wanted a cute laundry room. But since our washer and dryer was located in the unfinished part of our basement, I thought I could not make it "cute". I decided that is not true, so I had my DH put in a new utility sink (the old one was really yucky) and I made curtains and we made what once looked like a basement washroom, into a welcoming and homey area, which is good, because I spend about 90% of my time in what was once the ugliest room of our home. The make-over is not totally finished because this weekend my DH is going to build a laundry organizer for me. When that is all done, I will post some pics. On and even more note, I have to give props to my amazing DH. When we met his tool box consisted a hammer in a junk drawer of the kitchen. He is now a regular handyman, installing sinks, building things, he even put new ceramic tile in our bathroom! Its amazing! Up next is the pantry and kitchen. I have big plans for this area as well! I love all those cute organized pantries I see on pinterest! My spring cleaning won't stop there, every room of this house is going to be deep cleaned organized and purged by the end of May!

So aside from all that work, we have manged to have a little fun as well!
We had several St. Patty's day dinners:

We are very Irish so we celebrate St. Patrick's day with both sides of the family!

We also commemorated the release of the Frozen DVD with a movie night:

I made an indoor flurry by stringing cotton balls on fishing line and hanging them from the chandelier. I then took clear Christmas lights and put a white plastic tablecloth (the cheapo kind from the party section at the dollar store) over it, to look like the glistening snow Elsa creates. We had an indoor snowball fight with these fuzzy "snowball" balls MIL gave Charlotte for Christmas. For dinner we had "We Finish Each Others Sandwiches", Svens antlers (pretzels), Kristoff's ice cubes (blue jello cubes), Olaf noses (baby carrots, and Elsa's frozen cake (ice cream cake). To drink we had glacier punch. I have to say, the more I see this movie (and I have seen it a lot in the last week) the more I love it! It is pretty awesome! This was my favorite movie night so far!

We also made a trip to the STL zoo (along with everyone else who was in St. Louis last Friday!)

It is St. Louis' 250th Birthday this year so these cakes are all over the city!

Most importantly we had Dole Whips! YUM! Next time I am going to bring some pineapple juice to make a float!

Yesterday, Charlotte and I returned from a trip to visit our best friends in central IL. We had a great 3 day trip but, are happy to be back home!

So, on to our ADRs!
I went to bed after some sewing... and set my alarm, I thought for 4:30 am, but I actually set it for 4:30pm I woke up at 6:30 and could not believe I had made that mistake. I immediately jumped on the internet to see if I could get the ADR's I wanted and sadly I had some difficulty with BoG. I feel so stupid for my alarm mistake!
So here is what we have for now:
Sept 23: arrival day, no ADRS
Sept 24: HS day, H&V lunch Sci-Fi dinner
Sept 25: Resort Boma dinner
Sept 26: Late breakfast Boma, MNSSHP
Sept 27: MK day! CRT breakfast, BoG late dinner!

What I really wanted was Sept 24 to be MK day with CRT breakfast and BoG dinner, Sept 24 to be HS and Sept 27 to be our resort day. This plan would be more favorable based on Crowd calendars. However, DD really wants dinner with the beast again, so this may be our only choice. I am going to keep trying to change that BoG date (and time) and maybe I will be able to go to my original plan! I am a little disappointed and so mad at myself!But, I guess there is nothing I can do about this now.

So that is where I am for now. I promised even though my Spring cleaning plans run though the end of May, I will not take another absence! I will be back late today or tomorrow to comment on all of your TRs!

 

[Denovagirl]

Okay, so spring cleaning = no fun, but sooo awesome once its done! You feel so accomplished and free of your clutter! So that's awesome!

Your Frozen nights looks ahhh-mazing, of course! You are too cute with all your ideas! Love it!

Now ADRs, I know you're a little upset, but really you fit everything in! They look great to me!! Sept is lower crowds in general, so I think even having to move that MK day you will be doing good! It looks like a totally funnnnn trip! I think Charlotte will be feeling like a Princess on the day she gets to dine in BOTH Castles!!!! How exciting!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Your back! I've been missing pictures of adorable Charlotte!

Way to go on your spring cleaning and updating the laundry room. I've been wanting to do something with ours since we moved in like 7 years ago.

LOVE the movie night! I think we're just gonna crash your movie nights from now on--you are so super creative!

Yay, dole whips at the zoo!

I think your ADRs look good and totally agree with Terri--how fun to start and end your day in a castle!

 

[anniebabymu]

Loving all the updates! We need to do some serious purging around here as well! The girl's toys are more than a bit out of control!! Our basement is a disaster!

And don't get completely discouraged about BOG just yet! Definitely keep your eye out! When it was our 180 ADR date I couldn't even get a reservation! So I booked at LTT because BOG wasn't available. Then in a few weeks they released more tables and I was able to snatch up a 6:45 ADR for the day we wanted... actually 2 of them! We had to do a party of 5 and then a party of 4. So just hang in there! I'm crossing my fingers the same happens for you!

 

[AprilRenee]

Wow! That's some intense cleaning! Can't wait to see pics!

And WE went to the STL zoo on Friday too! It was nuts! I don't think i've ever seen so many people there. I mean, it wasn't Disney nuts...but it was pretty crazy for the zoo! I think it took me almost 30 min to get out of the park after we left. Traffic was crazy

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Okay, so spring cleaning = no fun, but sooo awesome once its done! You feel so accomplished and free of your clutter! So that's awesome!

Your Frozen nights looks ahhh-mazing, of course! You are too cute with all your ideas! Love it!

Now ADRs, I know you're a little upset, but really you fit everything in! They look great to me!! Sept is lower crowds in general, so I think even having to move that MK day you will be doing good! It looks like a totally funnnnn trip! I think Charlotte will be feeling like a Princess on the day she gets to dine in BOTH Castles!!!! How exciting!!

I am looking forward to it all being done! It is a snowball effect though, in order to get one area done, another area has to be cleaned. I am planning to go room by room and by the end of May I will have every room of the house organized and de-cluttered! That should help the time between now and Sept. fly by right?

Thanks! I love movie nights and this one was by far my fav. The best part I had all the supplies so it was basically free!

The more I think about it the more I am okay with my ADR's. I think the lower levels in Sept. will help it all work out! Also it will be a great way to end the trip, with meals in both castles! You are right, Charlotte is going to think she is royalty!

Your back! I've been missing pictures of adorable Charlotte!

Way to go on your spring cleaning and updating the laundry room. I've been wanting to do something with ours since we moved in like 7 years ago.

LOVE the movie night! I think we're just gonna crash your movie nights from now on--you are so super creative!

Yay, dole whips at the zoo!

I think your ADRs look good and totally agree with Terri--how fun to start and end your day in a castle!

I am happy to be back! I had to capitalize on the time I had DH home on Spring break to get things done. I always do spring cleaning but, this year its going to a whole new level! I am already feeling de-cluttered and I only finished one room!

We would love to have you all crash our movie nights! This last time, my good friend joined us and it was even more fun!

Love the dole whips at the zoo, pair it with the train, and its like a vacation at home! By the way have you seen the new plans for the zoo? Its going to be a like a resort! We love the zoo!

I am feeling better about my ADRs today! I think they are going to be great!

Loving all the updates! We need to do some serious purging around here as well! The girl's toys are more than a bit out of control!! Our basement is a disaster!

And don't get completely discouraged about BOG just yet! Definitely keep your eye out! When it was our 180 ADR date I couldn't even get a reservation! So I booked at LTT because BOG wasn't available. Then in a few weeks they released more tables and I was able to snatch up a 6:45 ADR for the day we wanted... actually 2 of them! We had to do a party of 5 and then a party of 4. So just hang in there! I'm crossing my fingers the same happens for you!

Oh I haven't even started on the toys... that is a whole other beast. I am going to tackle that last! I am pretty sure the toys multiply around here over night!

I am going to keep looking for a BoG that works better for us, but for now I think this will work out. It seems like they usually open some more up as the date gets closer, so it should all work out.

Wow! That's some intense cleaning! Can't wait to see pics!

And WE went to the STL zoo on Friday too! It was nuts! I don't think i've ever seen so many people there. I mean, it wasn't Disney nuts...but it was pretty crazy for the zoo! I think it took me almost 30 min to get out of the park after we left. Traffic was crazy

Oh and its just the beginning!

The zoo was insane last Friday! It was Bob's spring break and we decided to take one day away from our work to have fun as a family. He picked going to the zoo, and I think everyone else had the same idea! It was such a nice day for it. The funny thing is that we took forever to find a place to park but once inside it really didn't seem all that crowded. It was mostly a traffic issue.

 

[Denovagirl]

No new Disney news, huh?

 

[Jackiemarie21]

So, I have seriously been neglecting this PTR and Disney plans in general the past few weeks! I wish I had a fun reason, but sadly no. I have been in full swing spring cleaning mode with no room of the house left unturned! To say that I am exhausted at the end of the day is a total understatement! I would love to share some of my organizing pics. If is too off-topic for you, just keep scrolling because I do have some Disney updating to do at the end!

Here is my new laundry area:

I would show before and after pics, but I am mortified by what the before looks like, so trust me this is a huge improvement!

Here is my laundry basket organizer my DH made me:

This will help me keep every thing off the floor and organized!
Here is a pic of DH creating this for me:

Then I moved on to the storage area:

Again, you will have to take my word for it, but this is a tremendous improvement! Everything is in tubs and labeled and I donated and sold a ton of old stuff! It feels good to be clutter-free!
Then I moved on to the pantry. Here is what it looked like before:

its in the background, but you get the idea, it was a mess!
I started with a little craft project, I turned this:

Into this:

I think Sebastian approves!
Then, I ordered some new Tupperware and jars and did this:

I am extremely pleased with how this turned out! I am not done yet! Next I am moving onto our closets!


The past few days I have not been feeling well, I think it is just a cold, but it really has me down, so I have not been cleaning or organizing, which has me started thinking on some of our Disney stuff!
So, I did a couple of Disney crafts/sewing projects.
First I took a coffee can and made a bank for our Disney change:

A few years ago DH had his identity stolen and it has been a major ordeal for us. This has made us go to a cash only philosophy. I never use exact change, I always round up to the next dollar. I throw all that change in coffee can and that is what we use for souvenirs at Disney. I decided a plain old coffee can just would not do anymore. So, I jazzed one up based on a pintrest pin I saw.
Then I made myself a cute shirt:

I LOVE the pocket tees that are so popular now and I saw this idea on Pintrest and I just had to have one! I rarely make things for myself so, this is a pretty big deal
I made a minnie towel for a friends little girl:

Lastly Terri (Denovagirl) painted some amazing shoes for us:

These are for me and will go perfectly with my Minnie pocket tee (which may or may not be the reason I made it!)

These are for Charlotte and she LOVES Rapunzel right now, so she is going to flip for these!
In return for her painting skills I did some shirts for her family:

My DH has always been kind of anit-matching shirts. He usually lets me do one set a trip. (He is a good sport about me coordinating our outfits, though)
When he saw these he was like why don't you ever make anything like this for us Men! He told me he would love to wear some like that!
So, that led me to start thinking about our clothes for this trip.
I was kind of holding off on doing too much sewing, and planning this time. The reason was that last time I think I got everything done too early and that lead to me getting kind of board, which is when I started changing everything. I have been trying to prevent that this time!
I figured we are getting close enough now, that I can start doing a little more planning.
So, as of now our plans for clothes are:
Sept 23 arrival day: Charlotte will wear a castle shirt and pink chevron pants I plan to make. Bob and I will just wear comfortable clothes.
Sept 24: As of now HS (I want to try and change this!) Morning/afternoon a Doc or Sofia pillowcase dress. I have a few ideas swirling around in my head. Charlotte changes her mind constantly on which is her fav. of these two ladies, so I have no idea which one will actually end up on her dress. For the evening of our HS day I am going to make Charlotte a Jesse inspired dress. It will also be her birthday dress (we are having her party at a local farm and I thought it would fit for both)
Sept 25: Rest day: During the day we will be swimming and stuff so I don't really have any outfit in particular planned. That evening we are going to Boma for dinner. I am going to make Charlotte a Pocahontas inspired outfit for Boma.
Sept 26: During the day we will be hanging out at the resort so again there will be no specific outfit planned. That evening will be MNSSHP so will wear our costumes. That is still TBD.
Sept 27: MK Day. The morning will be CRT breakfast. I am going to make Charlotte and Aurora inspired outfit and I will be wearing this:

That evening we are going to BOG so Charlotte will wear a Belle gown I think and I am going to wear this:

I was doing a little online Easter shopping for Charlotte this morning and found those shirts and I LOVED them so I decided to get them for myself. I also ordered this one:

Have not decided when or if I am going to wear that one, but it was too cute not to get!

So, that is all I have for now! Sorry for the severe PTR neglect I will try to be better!

 

[Denovagirl]

LOVE all the outfit ideas!! And love love love your pocket tee!! That will go perfect with the shoes!!

And omg that is too funny about the hubby and the matching clothes!!! Mines just given in, I guess when at Disney he doesn't care and he knows it makes our very pricey photopass pics look great so he rolls with it, but he would NEVER go matching at home!

And good job on the cleaning and organizing! I like the little shutters you did by your laundry area, makes your little nook look happy and brighter for what I assume is being in your basement! And way to go on all the Pinterest projects!! I've seen the dog food and the Mickey jar on there! You did them perfectly!!! Good idea on the spare change!!

Glad you found time for an update! It's kinda fun when you miss for a while bc then you have a lot to update with!

Can't wait until Charlotte gets her shoes!! Next I need to make you some cards ones!! You NEED some!!

 

[AprilRenee]

Wow!! your home projects look great!! Love your pantry!!

And I love the shirts you picked out for you! Love! And your pocket shirt and the cool shoes. Just Yay all around! :-D

and what farm are you doing Charlotte's party at??? I'm so nosy! lol

 

[Tinker326]

I hopped over and just read through all your PTR. It's a bunch to comment on but just wanted to say....

LOVE your DIS plans!

Your DD is absolutely adorable. And I am highly partial to that name considering it's my youngest's name as well..........

You are mad talented with the sewing! Wow! Just... wow!!!

Looking forward to following your plans & plan to hop over to your last TR to read at lunch today!!!!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

LOVE all the outfit ideas!! And love love love your pocket tee!! That will go perfect with the shoes!!

And omg that is too funny about the hubby and the matching clothes!!! Mines just given in, I guess when at Disney he doesn't care and he knows it makes our very pricey photopass pics look great so he rolls with it, but he would NEVER go matching at home!

And good job on the cleaning and organizing! I like the little shutters you did by your laundry area, makes your little nook look happy and brighter for what I assume is being in your basement! And way to go on all the Pinterest projects!! I've seen the dog food and the Mickey jar on there! You did them perfectly!!! Good idea on the spare change!!

Glad you found time for an update! It's kinda fun when you miss for a while bc then you have a lot to update with!

Can't wait until Charlotte gets her shoes!! Next I need to make you some cards ones!! You NEED some!!

Thanks I love how that tee turned out!

I think the families in matching shirts are so so cute! Just at Disney though in the "real" world it would be kind of weird looking, I guess Although, when I know we will have our picture taken, I like our colors to go together. So if DD has a pink and blue dress, I wear pink and DH blue. Silly, I know!

Yes my laundry room is in the unfinished part of the basement, I realized I spend tons of time in there and it is the least appealing room of the house! So I had to fix that!

Umm... cards shoes! Yes totally need those!

I usually update at night, after I sew but with all the work I have been doing lately I am too tired to update and just go to bed!

Wow!! your home projects look great!! Love your pantry!!

And I love the shirts you picked out for you! Love! And your pocket shirt and the cool shoes. Just Yay all around! :-D

and what farm are you doing Charlotte's party at??? I'm so nosy! lol

Thanks! I am totally in love with the pantry too, now I just have to keep it that way!
I am super excited about my new shirts and shoes! Now, I just have to wait for it to arrive.

We are doing Charlotte's party at Grants Farm this year. She loves animals so this is right up her ally. Also, it was less $$$ than our home party last year! So is a win-win!

I hopped over and just read through all your PTR. It's a bunch to comment on but just wanted to say....

LOVE your DIS plans!

Your DD is absolutely adorable. And I am highly partial to that name considering it's my youngest's name as well..........

You are mad talented with the sewing! Wow! Just... wow!!!

Looking forward to following your plans & plan to hop over to your last TR to read at lunch today!!!!

Glad to have you along!
Thank you! Charlotte is a pretty great name, and its like a requirement for all Charlottes to be totally adorable or at least that is what I have seen so far!
Thank you! Sewing has always been a passion of mine, its something I have done since as long as I can remember. Nothing else can drive me totally insane and relax me at the same time!

Thanks for following along!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Your laundry room looks great! Feel free to come to our house and work some magic on ours! Really, I'm feeling sort of inspired to do something in there now.

Your shirt and bank are so cute! And I am LOVING the towel! I've been thinking of making some for the girls since they both still like to wrap up after baths and have outgrown all the ones we had. I never even thought to do a Mickey or Minnie. Oh my gosh! Hannah would LOVE a goofy one! Thanks a lot--now I have another project for my list! seriously, you are crazy talented, lady!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Your laundry room looks great! Feel free to come to our house and work some magic on ours! Really, I'm feeling sort of inspired to do something in there now.

Your shirt and bank are so cute! And I am LOVING the towel! I've been thinking of making some for the girls since they both still like to wrap up after baths and have outgrown all the ones we had. I never even thought to do a Mickey or Minnie. Oh my gosh! Hannah would LOVE a goofy one! Thanks a lot--now I have another project for my list! seriously, you are crazy talented, lady!

Thanks! I think I have my hands full over here! Seriously starting things like this is like a disease for me, it just spreads all over the house!

The towel are so fun and EASY! Like an hour or two tops! I used this tutorial:http://crazylittleprojects.com/2013/04/mickey-and-minnie-hooded-towel.html
It just takes a bath towel and a hand towel and some love from your machine! She also has directions for an Olaf one that is sooo cute, but white and kiddos just seems like a bad combo! I have also made a Mike one, with lime green towels and one eye. (My sis in law is obsessed with Monsters Inc, needless to say my nephew gets MI themed gifts for everything)
Thanks! I love having a Disney and sewing friend!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I am sure you are rubbing your eyes in disbelief right now, two updates in one week! Well believe because here I am!
Well, its just a small update. I mentioned I was going to start working on the customs for our trip and last night I completed the first one!

I wanted to get this one done early because as I also previously mention it will also be Charlotte's birthday dress. So without farther ado here is my Jessie inspired dress:

Here is an action shot:

This was taken before I added the second pocket. I just could not decide if it needs one or two pockets, what do you all think? Last night Charlotte said two, today she is saying one For her birthday she will wear it with cowboy boots and some type of bow/headband.

Anyway not a huge update just wanted to share the dress. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out and Charlotte seems to love it!

 

[AprilRenee]

THAT is the most adorable dress ever!! Oh my goodness!! And I vote 2 pockets

I also vote I need a girl child!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I love her dress! It's so adorable and I think the two pockets are nice. Adds a little pop of color on the darker skirt.

And I am so happy to have a friend to talk sewing with too! I've never had any other friends who sew and I love that I can ask you for advice!! I'm going to have to find that tutorial. Those are super cute towels. How funny would it be to make a big one for your SIL! My MIL LOVES Mike (I tried to get her to go to Disney with us by bribing her with a visit to Mike right away but she still said no ). I might have to make her some sort of mike towel as a gift this year!

I also vote I need a girl child!

I agree! I love sewing baby stuff! Especially girly stuff

 

[Denovagirl]

2 pockets for sure! Soooooooo adorable! I absolutely love it!