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

[Alysa]

MY dad got the time off work, he and my niece are the most excited of anyone. They are both looking forward to Vero the most. My niece calls me daily with questions about the turtles. She is so adorable, she's coming over for a sleepover movie night this weekend. I said to her last night, "You sound excited!" and she replied, "Auntie Lys, I haven't stopped being excited since the moment I heard!!"
I have to think of some turtle related gift for her. Please Lord let her see a LIVE baby turtle on the turtle walk! We are going to redo Brave so I'm off to buy Haggis this morning. Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hmmm... Haggis... eh? I'm dying to see some photos of that... I believe you said you were a vegetarian? I assume you won't be partaking of the Haggis...

I'm so glad that things are look up in Harold's job search & bully for you for taking your trip... Halloween seems like a fabulous time to visit...(it's at the top of Dis bucket list) ... the weather, crowd will be on the lighter side plus you'll get the MNSSHP... I am envious of that... I've never been & have only hear amazing things about that and the parade and Hallowishes ...

Mushu? That should be ADORABLE!!!

I know this isn't very adult of me... but I'm actually in denial that Toy Story 3 is really part of the Toy Story series... as far as I'm concerned it ends at 2 (although there are some very good individual snippets and it would make a great mash up) It's not very mature... but it's how I handle it (I WAS traumatized by TS3 )

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Alysa, I am so happy that Harold is moving forward with his job! It’s great that he is excited about it. Now this:

Wow! That is amazing! The way you explained everything, I might just try my hand at making some Leaves of Lothlorien pins, too! So cool! Did Toby wear it to school yet? I am loving this:

Gonzo as Gimli is just too cute! Tinkerbell’s house is just beautiful! I was thinking of collecting things on a nature walk with the kids, too, and making something for Tink. Very much in the spirit of being a “tinker”! All of the Toy Story movies make me cry, but TS3 was so touching that I want to cry just thinking about it! I watched that Toy Story/Star Trek mashup and I was laughing so hard! Lotso was the PERFECT character for Benedict Cumberbatch! I sent the link to my son and he thought it was really cool too. I love the necklaces you made for Pocahontas and Atlantis! The pottery was cool, too!

I’m so happy for you that you are going to be able to go to MNSSHP! Your ideas for the costumes are great! I can’t wait to see Mushu! And knowing you, I doubt that you will be “Boring old Snow White again” because I am sure you can think of a way to update your costume if you want. The costume is awesome as it is, though! But back to your dates, I can hardly believe you have Canadian Thanksgiving, Robert’s birthday AND your niece’s birthday all wrapped up into your trip! I’m glad everyone is so excited about it, because it sounds like the trip will be amazing! I am excited to hear more about your Vero Beach plans and I am nervous to hear about the haggis!

 

[Xclusive2WDW]

Hi Alysa,
I subscribed to your PTR as well and I sure am glad that I did! Your so awesome, I just love your creativity. We are kindred spirits and I will have to tell you about the butterfly themed bday we did for DD bday last year. I also see, while very different circumstances, we both willed our way to WDW through our difficult predicaments. Sending pixie dust and lucky crickets your way I look forward to hearing more. P.S. That little bundle of joy is just that, unbelievable adorable.

 

[Alysa]

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Hmmm... Haggis... eh? I'm dying to see some photos of that... I believe you said you were a vegetarian? I assume you won't be partaking of the Haggis...
I'm so glad that things are look up in Harold's job search & bully for you for taking your trip... Halloween seems like a fabulous time to visit...(it's at the top of Dis bucket list) ... the weather, crowd will be on the lighter side plus you'll get the MNSSHP... I am envious of that... I've never been & have only hear amazing things about that and the parade and Hallowishes ...
Mushu? That should be ADORABLE!!!
I know this isn't very adult of me... but I'm actually in denial that Toy Story 3 is really part of the Toy Story series... as far as I'm concerned it ends at 2 (although there are some very good individual snippets and it would make a great mash up) It's not very mature... but it's how I handle it (I WAS traumatized by TS3 )

Stay tuned for Brave - I had forgotten about earth day! It's funny though, on my honeymoon in Paris, we did see vegetarian haggis at the Marks&Sparks. Never bought any. It will have to wait for our England trip. I've already started the Mushu planning - should be super cute!

Alysa, I am so happy that Harold is moving forward with his job! Its great that he is excited about it.
Wow! That is amazing! The way you explained everything, I might just try my hand at making some Leaves of Lothlorien pins, too! So cool! Did Toby wear it to school yet?
Gonzo as Gimli is just too cute! Tinkerbells house is just beautiful! I was thinking of collecting things on a nature walk with the kids, too, and making something for Tink. Very much in the spirit of being a tinker! All of the Toy Story movies make me cry, but TS3 was so touching that I want to cry just thinking about it! I watched that Toy Story/Star Trek mashup and I was laughing so hard! Lotso was the PERFECT character for Benedict Cumberbatch! I sent the link to my son and he thought it was really cool too. I love the necklaces you made for Pocahontas and Atlantis! The pottery was cool, too!
Im so happy for you that you are going to be able to go to MNSSHP! Your ideas for the costumes are great! I cant wait to see Mushu! And knowing you, I doubt that you will be Boring old Snow White again because I am sure you can think of a way to update your costume if you want. The costume is awesome as it is, though! But back to your dates, I can hardly believe you have Canadian Thanksgiving, Roberts birthday AND your nieces birthday all wrapped up into your trip! Im glad everyone is so excited about it, because it sounds like the trip will be amazing! I am excited to hear more about your Vero Beach plans and I am nervous to hear about the haggis!

Thanks Erin! Toby was too nervous to wear the pin. He was sad because no one else in his class knows the books. I am so excited abou tthe trip. With all the stress gong on lately, picturing us all there is the only thing keeping me sane. I can just see Robbie on the Tiger Lilly ship beside the pool at Vero. Here is a link to a video of Toby at Vero at the same age.

Hi Alysa,
I subscribed to your PTR as well and I sure am glad that I did! Your so awesome, I just love your creativity. We are kindred spirits and I will have to tell you about the butterfly themed bday we did for DD bday last year. I also see, while very different circumstances, we both willed our way to WDW through our difficult predicaments. Sending pixie dust and lucky crickets your way I look forward to hearing more. P.S. That little bundle of joy is just that, unbelievable adorable.

Hi Xclusive! I'm so glad you stopped by! I'd love to see the Butterfly party! Lucky crickets is now my new favourite phrase!

Our Wall-E night was a bit action-packed so we will be watching the movie this weekend instead. I had intended to do it this past weekend but it was Robbie's 6 month birthday. We had a nice little party with my sister and her family and we gave him solids for the first time but he had an allergic reaction to it and broke out in hives and his eyes swelled shut. It was terrifying! After 1.25 mL of children's benadryl and an hour of cuddling he was almost back to normal. It's actually relevant to the movie night because even the plain rice cereal baby food is full of extra additives and ingredients you just don't need. We switched to Health Times Organic Baby Rice Cereal today and he had no problems at all.

Anyway, for the snack we did Wall-e cookies. I found a cute recipe here but I simplified it a little and skipped the white icing and just made the eyes and rivets with some chocolate icing and cinnamon hearts. I used my favourite shortbread recipe from here and they still looked pretty cute.

For the activity, first the kids and I planted some seeds and raspberry bushes in the garden that they picked out. We had gone for a tree but they were all pretty pricey. Next year, when we are in our forever home. (Insert lucky cricket here). Then, we picked the garbage off the grass around our house and Toby made a sign that said Happy Earth Day! Don't Litter Please. While he was doing that, Eveie was working on researching the oil sands and writing a letter to Steven Harper asking him to cancel the plans for the Enbridge pipeline. Here is a link to info about it at the greenpeace website. Hope everyone has a great evening!

 

[Alysa]

Hope everyone had a fantastic spring weekend! Quick question to all you Disney experts out there. Do you know which restaurant you can find Rice Krispie sushi at for the kids dessert? I must have shown the kids a photo at one time because Toby was asking if we could go there, but I can't for the life of me remember.

We had a lovely weekend. We were lucky enough to be taken to Stars On Ice which was really quite marvelous. Eveie was in heaven. Then we had my niece over for another movie night: Brave!

As you may remember, watching Brave was fraught with peril for me. I thought it was a great movie but I don't think I will ever be able to see it again without throwing up. However, the kids did enjoy it, just not their mother having a breakdown during said film. So we still did the movie night. I made haggis and neeps and tatties which, being one quarter Scottish, we have had many times before. The trick to Scottish cuisine is good ingredients and lots of butter. I got the haggis from our favourite Healthy Butcher.

For the dessert I made the scones that Harris, Hubert, and Hamish spend the film trying to steal. Now this recipe is my secret weapon. It makes grown men weep for joy. I'm going to tell you but you must promise to use this power only for good. It's the perfect hostess gift, quick, inexpensive, easy to make and your host shows up at the door asking "Did you bring them?"

Scone Recipe
Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups of frozen cranberries
1 bag of white chocolate chips
Method
Preheat the oven to 400˚C. In a mixer combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture until moistened. Add cranberries and chips. Cut into wedges or shape into rounds and place on a baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes (depending on size) in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve and declare world domination (optional).

For the craft, we did an archery lesson. My husband learned how to use a long bow in Scouts as a child so be borrowed my Dad's old one, bought some new kids safety arrows from Canadian Tire, drew a target that we placed in front of a craft hay bale from Michaels and spent an hour teaching them! The activity was voted two thumbs up.

 

[Alysa]

So Evie is allergic to nuts and soy. Fine. No problem. But now, we just got back form the allergist after Robbie's outbreak of hives with his first cereal. Turns out he is allergic to milk and eggs! COME ON! ARG! Is this some kind of cosmic joke? "Guess what Alysa, we're going to make your kids allergic to all 4 out of four of your vegetarian protein sources". Ha! Grumble. I know, I know, count my blessings. Three adorable kids. But still. Small grumble. And poor Robbie. Little bunny.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Oh, poor baby! I’m so sorry to hear about his allergies! That must have been so scary when he had that reaction to the cereal. I’m glad he did well with the rice cereal, though Your Wall-E night and Earth Day activities looked really fun! I bookmarked that scone recipe!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Oh Goodness!!! I definitely feel for you!!! Fortunately, we live in a society that offers LOTS of advice and support for mommies dealing with multiple food allergies. I am sure you will find lots of resources for help as you make yet another lifestyle adjustment. HUGS!!!

 

[Alysa]

I bookmarked that scone recipe!

You've got to try that Scone recipe on the new man Erin!

Oh Goodness!!! I definitely feel for you!!! Fortunately, we live in a society that offers LOTS of advice and support for mommies dealing with multiple food allergies. I am sure you will find lots of resources for help as you make yet another lifestyle adjustment. HUGS!!!

Thanks Daisy! I tried fish this week. I felt queasy all night. Then I tried a bit of ham. Ugh. Nope no good, still a vegetarian. Just going to have to cook a lot of different meals at dinner from now on.

Happy May the Fourth Be with you day!

So craziness today. Harold still hasn't heard from his new boss about start dates and final agreements. Starting to stress!
Toby was sick all week, 104 fever every night, hardly ate a thing. Well, I made Dumbo pogos for dinner and he begged for 3 - this is a boy who doesn't eat much to begin with and who disappears when he turns sideways he is so skinny. Well, you guessed it. 6am next day, pogos all over my bed.
Needed some good news so went out and did some retail therapy for the trip.

New shoes for Eveie and Toby, Skort for Eveie, and onsies for Robbie. Nothing very exciting but I had fun shopping with Harold. He played hooky because he spent the week writing at home at night. We even went out to breakfast with Robbie too and I think that is the first time I've been to a restaurant since the baby was born!

Toby is probably spending the weekend on the couch getting better so we are going to do two movie nights this week. Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. I'll be back with photos Sunday evening! Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Alysa! I wish I remembered the restaurant(s) that offer the kids rice krispy sushi dessert but I don't... I can picture it!

So sorry about Evie & Robbie's allergies. I like your attitude - they are indeed adorable!

I remember when you shared when your first watched Brave. I hadn't seen the movie yet at that time so I didn't know the impact it could have or the memories it may bubble up. I wish things were different for you...

Thank you for sharing the best scones in the world recipe. I'll definitely need to make those and then move on to world domination - optional indeed!

 

[abbybeth]

Hello! I followed you over from your comment on my pre-TR.

You've had quite a year with so many ups and downs. Disney can be so wonderful and theraputic and distracting in many forms, but especially trip planning. I'm so glad you're going on your trip (and with a great crew too)

I've been thinking that I need to start incorporating some Disney movies into our rotation so the boyfriend can refresh his memory (or watch some for the first time, haha) before our trip. Incorporating themed dinner probably wouldn't hurt. He won't be up for craft though

edited to add: I have to say I quite like haggis, at least if it's prepared well and with good ingredients. But I've grown up attending and performing at Burns dinners and highland games my entire life - it's just about mandatory to have at least a small helping every now and then!

 

[Alysa]

Hi Alysa! I wish I remembered the restaurant(s) that offer the kids rice krispy sushi dessert but I don't... I can picture it!
So sorry about Evie & Robbie's allergies. I like your attitude - they are indeed adorable!
I remember when you shared when your first watched Brave. I hadn't seen the movie yet at that time so I didn't know the impact it could have or the memories it may bubble up. I wish things were different for you...
Thank you for sharing the best scones in the world recipe. I'll definitely need to make those and then move on to world domination - optional indeed!

Hi Brenda, I did some searching and found the sushi at the California Grill. I hope they still sell it there. Now the kids have to decide between that and Tepan Edo and I'll hope that there is still available when they decide! I'm thinking of making the sushi here to make the decision easier for them.
Thank you for the kind words about my mum.
Let me know how the scones go!

Hello! I followed you over from your comment on my pre-TR.
You've had quite a year with so many ups and downs. Disney can be so wonderful and theraputic and distracting in many forms, but especially trip planning. I'm so glad you're going on your trip (and with a great crew too)
I've been thinking that I need to start incorporating some Disney movies into our rotation so the boyfriend can refresh his memory (or watch some for the first time, haha) before our trip. Incorporating themed dinner probably wouldn't hurt. He won't be up for craft though
edited to add: I have to say I quite like haggis, at least if it's prepared well and with good ingredients. But I've grown up attending and performing at Burns dinners and highland games my entire life - it's just about mandatory to have at least a small helping every now and then!

Hi Abby! I'm so happy you stopped by!
I am hoping our trip is very theraputic. Everyone in the house is counting the days already (152). I still miss my mum every day and I'm officially canceling Mother's Day this year. My husband quite likes all the goodies he has gotten to sample this year. Ryan will love the scones - trust me.
I could tell from the highland dancing that you must be a haggis girl!
A h-uile là sona dhuibh 's gun là idir dona dhuib.

We did Alice in Wonderland this weekend (Pinocchio still has to have the craft finished) We started with teeny tiny Drink me bottles so the children could shrink down enough to enter Wonderland.

We had a mad tea party out in the garden - pots of tea, egg salad sandwiches cut into heart shapes and...

tiny Eat me cakes. The first ones I made melted in the sunshine before I could take a photo so we had to make more. Harold was very sad about that as you can imagine.

For the activity I had ordered pink flamingos from ebay, again for about a dollar, we got out Robbie's hedgehog finger puppet, and the kids made playing cards - hey presto, croquet!

So today marked the official start of "get into a bathing suit for Disney".
I've run three times this week, the first three times since the bairn was born, for a total of 6.59km so far. I got on the scale on Monday and saw I was at 135 and only had 15 pounds to got to get back to pre baby weight. Not so bad, right? Then, the next night Harold got on the scale and I heard from the bathroom "Woohoo! I only weigh 135 pounds!" Turns out the scale is very broken and in fact I have 25 pounds to go to get back to pre baby. So last night we celebrated the last day of not being on a diet by Harold bringing home caramel corn and a fruit and nut bar (my two greatest weaknesses) and today I started eliminating sugar, bread, pasta and rice from my diet. And I'm just a tad cranky. I realized while I was making the kids lunches that wonder bread smells like doughnuts. Mmmmm, bread.

 

[abbybeth]

Hi Abby! I'm so happy you stopped by!
I am hoping our trip is very theraputic. Everyone in the house is counting the days already (152). I still miss my mum every day and I'm officially canceling Mother's Day this year. My husband quite likes all the goodies he has gotten to sample this year. Ryan will love the scones - trust me.
I could tell from the highland dancing that you must be a haggis girl!
A h-uile là sona dhuibh 's gun là idir dona dhuib.

We have 140 days (and 20 hours) on our countdown. I might make a paper chain for 100 and down.... in my free time

I have the scones marked down as a must make for Brave night. We haven't watched it since we went to see it in the theatre. He has a lot of other Disney catching up to do as well!

I adore your Alice tea party - I want an excuse to thrown a full blown mad tea party at some point. Maybe when my honorary niece is a little older ....

Slàinte maith, h-uile latha, na chi 'snach fhaic!


and good luck with your weight loss/exercise journey!

 

[emmysmommy]

Ha! Wonder bread smells like donuts! I suppose when you start eliminating bread it begins to look very tasty.

Great job with your running!!! I think you look great. (reference your family photo for the Chinese New Year??) I haven't had a baby in 17 years so I don't have an excuse... other than people on these Disboards who post recipes of scones and yummy things like that!!

The Alice theme is well done once again! The tiny sandwiches and cakes - again, brilliant!

Have a great weekend!

 

[DMGeurts]

Sorry I've fallen a bit behind here... I can't imagine having food allergies - we are very fortunate that we don't have any here. I really hope you are able to get it figured out soon.

Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Mother's Day!

D~

 

[Alysa]

Happy Mother's Day to all my Dis friends!

 

[emmysmommy]

What a cute image Alysa! Happy Mother's Day to you!!

 

[Xclusive2WDW]

Happy Mother's Day

 

[emmysmommy]

I'm checking in with you Alysa to see how things are going. I hope you have had a great week and all is well!