Surprise! It's a baby! (Not long now!)

[Tink-erin-belle]

What a wonderful husband you have! How sweet of him to take over the party preparation for you! For the record, having the party to introduce the baby to the family wasn't an idiotic idea! Just ambitious! It sounds like you were completely prepared since you got all of the supplies before the baby was even born! I'm glad it turned out so well! The cookies were so cool! So were the cupcakes! Thank you so much for the link to the NBC ideas. I've been wracking my brain to think of something because I want to do this movie night before the end of the month The pumpkins turned out really well, too! It looks like you had a great party

 

[jennyjinx3]

Oh Alysa....he is adorable! Congratulations on his safe arrival!! I am sorry he is still in NICU, it must be very stressful for you and you family. Huge hugs to you....

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Actually those look like pretty good cookies - I think DH has the knack...

Great craft/food ideas... I'm on those Haunted Mansion bookmarks... that's one of my favorite attractions if not favorite...

I think that Erin is right -having the party was really sweet just a bit ambitious but as it all worked out well... It's all good...

 

[emmysmommy]

I hope all is well with Robert (Robbie) now and his birth weight and bili levels are back within normal ranges. What a tough time you had even without the added stress of lack of sleep and continuing to nurse.

I think your Halloween party/introduction of the lad to the family was a great idea. Your DH pulled it off wonderfully! I haven't seen Haunted Mansion in years but remember the creepy ending.

I hope you have a great week!

 

[Alysa]

What a wonderful husband you have! How sweet of him to take over the party preparation for you! For the record, having the party to introduce the baby to the family wasn't an idiotic idea! Just ambitious! It sounds like you were completely prepared since you got all of the supplies before the baby was even born! I'm glad it turned out so well! The cookies were so cool! So were the cupcakes! Thank you so much for the link to the NBC ideas. I've been wracking my brain to think of something because I want to do this movie night before the end of the month The pumpkins turned out really well, too! It looks like you had a great party

Thanks Erin - he is a good guy and it was a fun night. I'd love to see your photos for your movie night!

Oh Alysa....he is adorable! Congratulations on his safe arrival!! I am sorry he is still in NICU, it must be very stressful for you and you family. Huge hugs to you....

Hi Jenny - guess what? He hit his birth weight and he is HOME!

Actually those look like pretty good cookies - I think DH has the knack...
Great craft/food ideas... I'm on those Haunted Mansion bookmarks... that's one of my favorite attractions if not favorite...
I think that Erin is right -having the party was really sweet just a bit ambitious but as it all worked out well... It's all good...

Hi Patricia, Haunted Mansion is in my top 5 as well, I can't say which is my favourite though. Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Splash Mountain, Spaceship Earth, Kali River Rapids, Star Tours, Dumbo, hmmm. That is more than 5 isn't it?
And my poor husband. He was forced into more baking this weekend. It's really hard to do much of anything with a new little one but our kids do look forward to the movie nights so much. My sister told me I was crazy when I was talking to her on the phone, but when I asked my husband about whether we should call it quits for a while he said he enjoyed doing fun stuff with the kids and that it was nice to take a break from thinking like a scientist all day, every day.

I hope all is well with Robert (Robbie) now and his birth weight and bili levels are back within normal ranges. What a tough time you had even without the added stress of lack of sleep and continuing to nurse.
I think your Halloween party/introduction of the lad to the family was a great idea. Your DH pulled it off wonderfully! I haven't seen Haunted Mansion in years but remember the creepy ending.
I hope you have a great week!

Thanks Brenda - funny thing is, the only people not coming on the trip that were at the party were my aunt and her family. She and her son were having a discussion about whether the tomb stones were from Haunted Mansion or Nightmare before Christmas. When I suggested that it was shocking that her son didn't remember, she hinted that maybe they would like to join us on the trip as well! I've got to go and re-examine our points situation!

So the movie nights have become more like a movie week. Dinner one night, dessert another, then one or two days to finish the craft. Hopefully things will start getting easier and more back to normal now that he isn't at the hospital every day anymore. Anyway, here is our latest completed night: Dumbo! I thought it was a nice one for a house with a new baby in it.
For a circus dinner we had corn dogs, candy floss and popcorn balls. The recipe for the corn dogs is here. It makes a lot so I would freeze half of the corn dogs once you are finished. For the best effects we put the whole corn dog in the oil and then put the skewers on afterwards, and we used half regular hot dogs and half veggie dogs. Here is the recipe for the popcorn balls but we used butter instead of margarine and only 1/2 a cup of marshmallows (some 6 years old ate all of ours when we last made s'mores). Caution: these are super sweet, you may want to pick up some insulin while you are out getting the ingredients! The kids LOVED them! Then we just bought some cotton candy at the bulk barn and made those little white cones with card stock to hold them.

For the craft, Eveie and I created an iron-on transfer for a onsie for Robbie. The quote is "The very things that hold you down are going to life you up. - Timothy Mouse" with some clip art of a little feather.

 

[-Hope-]

Movie week sounds good to me! Stretch the magic.

Love the quote on a onsie- and Robert is adorable!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

I think the fact that you're having movie week this quickly after having a baby is pretty darn impressive...

Awww... Dumbo is so lovely and sweet (and so sad... hate those mean elephants...)

Great onesie and even cuter Baby Robert...

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I'm so glad Robert hit his birth weight! He is so cute! That onesie is adorable

 

[emmysmommy]

Awwww.. thanks for sharing yet another adorable photo of Robert. Love the onesie!! You are so creative that even your baby is themed!

Dumbo is a great theme! Now I want a corn dog.

 

[Alysa]

Movie week sounds good to me! Stretch the magic.
Love the quote on a onsie- and Robert is adorable!

Hi Hope! Thank you! I really am stretching it - more like a pair of movie fortnights now!

I think the fact that you're having movie week this quickly after having a baby is pretty darn impressive...
Awww... Dumbo is so lovely and sweet (and so sad... hate those mean elephants...)
Great onesie and even cuter Baby Robert...

Thanks Patricia, I think we'll keep him.

I'm so glad Robert hit his birth weight! He is so cute! That onesie is adorable

Hi Erin, thanks! He's turned into quite a little porker now. Eat, eat, eat.

Awwww.. thanks for sharing yet another adorable photo of Robert. Love the onesie!! You are so creative that even your baby is themed!
Dumbo is a great theme! Now I want a corn dog.

We're trying to bring him up right with a love of Disney from the very start.


I'm sorry I've been away so long. I forgot how hard it is to just get basic stuff done with a new baby, like laundry. The house has been a bit of a disaster zone and I feel like I can't justify taking time for a movie night when no one has any clean socks. But we finally are getting into a smoother patch and we finished off a pair of movie nights this weekend. I'll post The Black Cauldron first and if Robbie lets me, then Fantasia! Plus then we are off to get our tree! We usually do a tree farm but we may have to wait until next year I think. Too cold for Robbie.

I had so much trouble thinking of a craft for The Black cauldron until Eveie asked me for a piggy bank now that she no longer has to share her brother's room. And then I had it - a Henwin bank! We found an unpainted one at the dollar store and Eveie brought it home and painted it herself with her kids acrylic set!

For the recipe, we did cauldron cupcakes. I found the recipe here and just changed the gold glitter to green sparkles to match the movie better (they are a little hard to see in the photo). I admit, I also used a box mix to save a bit of time. Eveie piped the handles so they aren't as pretty as the other site but inspired much more pride. Toby wondered aloud what they were after they were done, probably because we did the baking about half a month after the movie was done, so I made everyone repeat the phrase "Wow, they look just like a cauldron!" before they could eat them. Quite yummy!

Eek! Baby calls and Battery is running low. I'll be back to post Fantasia. Sorry about any spelling mistakes!

 

[emmysmommy]

Glad to see you were able to give us a movie night update Alyssa!! I know life is hectic enough with the holidays, kids, a new baby and all so thanks for taking the time to share your latest adorable themed night with us! (Funny that you commented about saving time with the cake mix - that's all I use - I'm quite lazy!)

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Those cupcakes look quite yummy Alysa...

Really I think the fact that you are watching themed films and making themed food is quite remarkable considering you have a newborn...

Don't be so hard on yourself... Newborns are exhausting and you have other little people to take care of too... Some days just getting everyone up, dressed and cleaned up is an accomplishment...

 

[Millie12591]

Hi Millie! Thank you! I'll post the recipe for the pie below!




Here is the recipe for the pie - I have a huge old pie plate so I double this:
1 egg
15 mL all-purpose flour
180 mL white sugar
2 mL salt
375 mL cups pumpkin puree
375 mL evaporated milk
2 mL ground cinnamon
2 mL ground ginger
1 mL ground nutmeg
30 mL light corn syrup
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1.Preheat oven to 450ÚF (230ÚC).
2.Add the sugar gradually to the pumpkin puree. Beat well an stir in the flour, salt and spices. Stir in the corn syrup and beat well. Stir in the slightly beaten egg, then slowly add the evaporated milk, mixing until well blended. Pour the batter into the unbaked pie shell.
3. Bake at 450 degrees F (230ÚC) for 10 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 325ÚF (165ÚF) and continue baking pie for an additional 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the mixture comes out clean.

Thanks again for reading along everyone!

This is so sweet of you to share. I can't wait to make it for Christmas.

Awwww. He's sooo beautiful!! You did good Mama!! So sorry to hear you had so much trouble with his BR counts. I'm sure he's fine now, I had the same issues of keeping my daughter awake when she was born. Her BR counts were up a bit too, I know exactly what you've been going through.

Your movie nights are adorable. Glad to hear you aren't trying to do it all since the baby has come. Can't wait to see what you do with your tree!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Eveie is quite the artist! She did a fantastic job on her piggy bank! The Cauldron Cakes are so cute! I haven’t seen The Black Cauldron in ages! I’m going to have to find that one, because I doubt the kids have seen it. I’m amazed you’ve been able to keep up with the movie nights. I think that is wonderful! My kids are big kids now, but I still remember those early days of trying to take care of a little kid and a little baby, all while running a house!

 

[Alysa]

Hello everyone, Hope you are all doing well after a very sad weekend. I spent a lot of time cuddling with my chickens and sending out prayers for all those poor families in Newtown.

We've been busy elves, trying to get ready for Christmas and make it a lovely one for everyone despite the sadness of missing our mum.

I found this quote that helped a little.
Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Just have to hold on to our kids and keep our hearts full of love. Toby made me laugh today. He was singing Feliz Navidad, only he thinks the words are "Release Mummy Duck".

My mum made everyone (all 17 of us) special Christmas stockings whenever anyone new entered the family. Robert never got a stocking so I went out and got the fabric to make it this week. My dad brought her pattern by (from 1973) and I'm just about ready to start. I've just got 4 small purchases left to buy and I'm set! Oh, and I've got to do our annual Christmas letter but I think I am procrastinating on that because I'm afraid to write it.

I was lucky enough to win passes to see the premiere of The Hobbit on Wednesday. I think that may be the first time I ever won anything! I loved it. For Toby's birthday we are doing a hobbit party and I have lots to do to prepare! How about you, have you seen it yet? Thoughts?

As promised, here is the Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 movie night (finally!)
For the snack, we did Sorcerer Mickey cake pops. I got the recipe here.

Then for the craft we made a mobile of snow fairies. My daughter and I learned how to make the six sided snowflakes here. There are little tiny fairies in the snowflakes which you can see if you look carefully, and we decorated the flakes with white glitter which is impossible to see in the photos but looks very pretty. A friend sent me a link to make Star Wars snowflakes too from this cool site here which my son and I are happily doing. I need to go and get an exacto blade for the insides though - I'll post the pictures when we are all done.

Oh, that's a long entry. Sorry about that - I'll be able to update more frequently once Toby's birthday is all done. For now, along with the Christmas preparations, I've got to make a papier-mâché Smaug the Terrible!

Hugs to you all!

 

[Alysa]

Glad to see you were able to give us a movie night update Alyssa!! I know life is hectic enough with the holidays, kids, a new baby and all so thanks for taking the time to share your latest adorable themed night with us! (Funny that you commented about saving time with the cake mix - that's all I use - I'm quite lazy!)

Thanks Brenda! My Aunt told me a saying recently "The days are long but the years are short". It goes by so fast, doesn't it?

Those cupcakes look quite yummy Alysa...
Really I think the fact that you are watching themed films and making themed food is quite remarkable considering you have a newborn...
Don't be so hard on yourself... Newborns are exhausting and you have other little people to take care of too... Some days just getting everyone up, dressed and cleaned up is an accomplishment...

Thanks Patricia. I figure if I make it to the end of the day and my teeth are brushed, then I win!

This is so sweet of you to share. I can't wait to make it for Christmas.
Awwww. He's sooo beautiful!! You did good Mama!! So sorry to hear you had so much trouble with his BR counts. I'm sure he's fine now, I had the same issues of keeping my daughter awake when she was born. Her BR counts were up a bit too, I know exactly what you've been going through.
Your movie nights are adorable. Glad to hear you aren't trying to do it all since the baby has come. Can't wait to see what you do with your tree!

Hi Millie - thanks! I have a photo of the kids in front of the tree that I am using for our Christmas letter - I'll post it soon (once I write the darn thing!)

Eveie is quite the artist! She did a fantastic job on her piggy bank! The Cauldron Cakes are so cute! I haven’t seen The Black Cauldron in ages! I’m going to have to find that one, because I doubt the kids have seen it. I’m amazed you’ve been able to keep up with the movie nights. I think that is wonderful! My kids are big kids now, but I still remember those early days of trying to take care of a little kid and a little baby, all while running a house!

Thanks Erin, the movie night only eventually get done because the kids are so keen. I am just trying to stay on top of the laundry!

You guys are the best! I feel kind of lonely in our new place. I still have not met that many people here so it's nice to have so many great DIS friends.

 

[Alysa]

Just one more month today until I can book the trip!

Here is our The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Winnie the Pooh 2011 movie night. The sequel is actually quite surprisingly good and the kids couldn't decide which they prefered.
We had our Crystal Palace breakfast of puffed french toast. We found the recipe here

We had Rabbit's garden for dinner (just carrots, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato and peppers with dip).

Snacks during the movie were haycorns (mini shortbread cookies iced together with a hershey's kiss)

And for dessert, a beehive honey cake! I found the recipe for that here.

but I made a lot of changes because of Eveie's nut allergy. I made the cake and icing both honey flavoured (from a box mix and no nuts), and I used fondant, instead of marzipan bees with almond wings. I'd love to take a cake making class one day. I hate how my cakes NEVER look as good as the ones in the photos. The kids don't seem to mind though!

For the craft, the kids and I decorated balloons to look like Pooh and Piglet. Well truth be told, they blew up the balloons and spent the afternoon playing with them and they got me to draw the faces on. They did do the tissue paper ears though! You could also do a Tigger balloon but ours popped.

We also painted honey pots which we are using to organize Robert's drawers.

"It's a Useful Pot," said Pooh. "Here it is. And it's got 'A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh' written on it. That's what all that writing is. And it's for putting things in. There!"

 

[Alysa]

On our last Friday before Christmas we are going to be doing Mickey's Christmas Carol tomorrow and I am looking everywhere for a goose that does not cost $50! Really, $50? are these the ones that laid the golden eggs?
Anyway, this past month we have done all the Disney movies with Christmas in them. I thought I would try to update them all today in case anyone would like some holiday ideas.

The first weekend of December was Narnia. We only watched the first one because Toby has not read the other two books yet. And oh, how I wish they would do the other movies in the series! These books were my favourites as a child along with Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. I read them all hundreds of times.
For the snack we made hot chocolate and turkish delight (of course)! The hot chocolate was just 15mL of cocoa, 30 mL of sugar and 500 mL of milk. The turkish delight now, that was another matter. Having tried it once in my childhood I always believed that it was a food based on a dare.
"Mum, Can I have some dessert?"
"Well love, all we have is icing sugar…"
Actually, it wasn't bad homemade and the kids loved it. That being said, the recipe we followed made a ridiculous amount. One piece is enough for even the most sweet toothed child. I had a serving the size of a postage stamp. I found the recipe here but it comes with a handy serving size calculators so If you do make this, cut the recipe into 2 instead of 12. Also, make it a day in advance to give it lots of time to set.

For the craft we made a lantern night light. I found the idea here. I got the lantern at the dollar store (score!) and I used a larger vintage preserving jar from the goodwill so we took an old spool of thread and covered it with glue and fake snow to prop it up a bit higher. The idea backfired slightly because I've come into Toby's room countless times since then to find him asleep over a book by the light of this tiny lantern. He's going to ruin his eyes, but I have not got the heart to take it away yet, I'm just so happy that he loves reading so much and I remember doing the same thing as a child.

 

[Alysa]

Lady and the Tramp is a sentimental choice because it was my mum's favourite movie and she and my dad remind our family of the two of them. My mum was definitely a lady and the characters even look like the two of them together. So I wanted this movie night to be in her honour.
We had the obvious spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. My husband just makes the meatball recipe out of his head but this recipe here is very similar (just don't add the barbecue sauce).

For the craft we made a special ornament. I used a small lady and the tramp ornament (the Disney store had them on sale) but you could use any figurine. The dollar store and Michael's craft stores have clear plastic ornaments that you can fill but I needed a larger one so I got it at Loomis. We filled 1/4 of the ornament with fake snow (I got it at Michael's for $7 and I was irritated by the price, especially when I saw it at Wal-Mart later for $3), then added the ornament. After sealing it, we hot glued a ribbon around the ornament's join to make it look more like a whole piece of glass.

This should have been more inexpensive but it ended up being one of my pricier crafts. I'm pretty sure we'll keep it forever though and it was a special one so I wanted it perfect. Getting the elements for it on sale now would help, instead of when they had just come out when I got them in November.

 

[Alysa]

So my favourite Christmas movies are A Christmas Carol (the ones with Alastair Simm, as well as the Muppets, and Mickey's), the 1966 cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas, White Christmas and The Bishop's Wife. However, I watched Arthur Christmas on the recommendation of my sister and I think I am going to have to add it to the list of annual favourites. I know it's not a Disney movie but it was so charming and funny that we did a movie night on it anyway. I just wanted to tell you about it because it zipped under our radar last Christmas because we were so excited to see the Muppets and didn't notice it.
For the treat we had mince tarts.
GrandSanta: "I can't eat that. It gets in me teeth."
Here was the recipe we used, I even added one more apple and it was lovely. Also, instead of putting it in a single pie, we used the filling and made tarts.

For the craft I'd suggest letters to Santa. The kids had already sent theirs long ago so Toby made one for Robert. He drew the S-1 sleigh from the movie. Inside the card he asked Santa for all sorts of crazy things like a toy squirrel and a onsie with a Canadian flag on it.

A fun, easy and funny night. I'll post back this weekend with our Mickey's Christmas Carol movie night. Once I find a goose! Off now with Robert to go to the kids Christmas Concert. I'm walking to the school and it's about a 40 minute walk. It's 3˚C the wind sounds ferocious! Wish us luck!