WE'RE BACK! TR LINK! TThe Evil Spell Has Been Broken! A Special Mother/Daughter PTR

[debidigidelights]

With all the Christmas cooking going on I bet you didn't even realize that day on your countdown. Great family fun.

 

[sommergirl25]

Sorry you guys got sick. Your cookie day looked like a blast!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Those are fabulous pictures. I love the kitty ones and the cookies ones (your house looks great!!!) but i especially love the 3 generations. Precious stuff, that.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

With all the Christmas cooking going on I bet you didn't even realize that day on your countdown. Great family fun.

Thanks! Yep, we have a lot of fun, I really look forward every year to cookie day.

Sorry you guys got sick. Your cookie day looked like a blast!

Luckily my mom and sister seem to have avoided getting sick! I was really worried about my mom catching it.

Those are fabulous pictures. I love the kitty ones and the cookies ones (your house looks great!!!) but i especially love the 3 generations. Precious stuff, that.

Yep, my girl has an eye! It makes her Christmas gift even more fabulous. I'm giving her my old Nikon, I ordered a pink camera case and a pink neck strap to personalize it (did I already say that? Oh well, I repeat myself). I'm so glad for the shots of my mom and me. My sister wouldn't join in, she didn't want her picture taken but I know that feeling so I didn't push it.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Exciting day in our household, at our 63 day mark! (I'm hoping you have realized by now that my PTR is FULL of non-Disney goings-ons, gives me more reason to post!)

In any case, today Savannah & I and Kya (my BFF's daughter and Savannah's friend) spent some time in front of the computer holding our breath! Today was the pre-sale opening for Taylor Swift tickets in St. Louis. Savannah & her friends all wanted to go, so we had to buy 4 tickets and another friend buying 4. It took about 25 minutes online to get it done, but we got our tickets!!!

Unfortunately, our friend getting the other 4 tickets accidentally bought them for the Monday show instead of the Tuesday show that we agreed on, she's going to try and get it fixed, but at least all the girls will get to go, even if not together.

The concert isn't until March 19th! We'll be home for over a month from our Mother/Daughter trip at that point, so it will help with the Disney blues (see...I always find a way to bring it around to Disney!)

Savannah & Kya put 13's on their hands (Taylor Swift's lucky/favorite number) and posted for some pictures to commemorate the day! The tour is named after her album RED, in case you are wondering why all the red. Savannah's pretty excited for them to get all dressed up in red for the concert.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I'm loving your Green Apple TR, and since I've been on the PTR boards a bit, I thought I'd follow this report too. Mother-daughter trips are awesome!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm loving your Green Apple TR, and since I've been on the PTR boards a bit, I thought I'd follow this report too. Mother-daughter trips are awesome!

Hey! Welcome to my PTR!! I'm pretty much talking to myself over here, but that's nothing new, I do that in real life as well!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Hey! Welcome to my PTR!! I'm pretty much talking to myself over here, but that's nothing new, I do that in real life as well!

I know the feeling! I do it all of the time and my PTRs and TRs usually end up that way

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

You are in good company then!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

I thought I commented after your cookie post, but I guess not! Last week was super busy for me and this weekend…well, I was super lazy since the kids weren’t home! That is a cute Cookie Day tradition that you all have! Can I ship my cookies out to you to roll out? They look really good! Your three generations photo is really sweet! I hope you frame that! Your mom doesn’t look like she’s 80! And she is beautiful!

I’m going to make sure my daughter doesn’t see your Taylor Swift post because she would be so jealous! She loves Taylor Swift! I don’t think she’s old enough yet to go to concerts, though. I’m so happy for you that Savannah and her friends get to go That’s too bad about the other set of friends, though. I hope that the mom gets it all straightened out, but you’re right: no matter what, they’ll still be going to the concert!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hi Erin! I'm laying on my couch with a pinched nerve in my back, so forgive me for not quoting you or using colored font!

The other mom did not end up fixing the mistake, but the girls understand and are all still excited to be going! This is Savannah's third concert (I go with her) We went to Hannah Montana two days before her 8th birthday and then we went to Christina Perri this past summer. I'm excited for the concert as well, it will be me, Savannah, Hope, and Kya!

I better get back to resting, hoping to do a TR update tomorrow morning!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

50 DAYS!!!!!!

Oh how time flies when you are crazybusy with work and it's the holidays! I actually have some things that I have started to think about doing (journals? shirts?) but I cannot focus on them until the new year. We're also going to have some Disney Days with Hope & Kya in January, I'm looking forward to those as well!

Not Disney related (but you'll see, I find a way to relate it!) last Friday we went on our annual trip to the city to see the Nutcracker with our homeschool group. We loved it, as always, I took WAY too many pictures, and had a fabulous day!

READY for this? It's going to be picture heavy (b/c THAT'S the way I roll)

Every year we go to the Nutcracker and every year Savannah & I take a cheek-to-cheek shot to commemorate. I was going to go back and pull up the past years, but when I went back and pulled up the pics of Savannah & her friends and saw how little they were, it tugged at my heart, so I'm holding off on looking at our cheek-to-cheek timeline...too hard!

The Nutcracker is at one of the University theaters in St. Louis. We get amazing rates for being a "school group", so we are really lucky. The girls LOVE dressing up for this, we don't have many dressup events we go to.

A group shot of the girls before going in...

Up in front of the stage while waiting for the show

This is where I pulled up the stage shot from the first year we went. It wasn't a good quality pic, so I couldn't use it, but I did find one right before the show, to compare the girls and see how much they have grown! Kya isn't in the first shot b/c she didn't go that first year, she had just joined the homeschool group, I think. This comparrison makes me happy and sad at the same time! I miss that little girl, but LOVE the girl she has grown into!

The show was fabulous, as always! We headed to the Mall afterwards, which is a huge treat because we don't have a mall anywhere near us. In fact, 2 of the kids (siblings) that were with us had NEVER been to a mall! That seems crazy, at their age I was practically living at the mall.

Lunch in the food court

After lunch the kids pretty much ditched us! I wanted to follow, but only b/c I wanted pictures. Hope & I headed to the two best places in the mall, that are RIGHT across from each other!

I'm a princess!

We took our Starbucks and sat in the comfy lounge/couch chairs and spent our time chatting and people watching! Eventually the kids showed back up and let me take some pictures. I'm SO overjoyed that my daughter has such a circle of friends. I can't tell you how happy it makes my heart. They are all amazing!

Wanna know what amuses a bunch of kids from the country? A FOUNTAIN to throw coins in!

In their defense, part of why they were laughing and acting so silly was that one of the girls threw a penny into the fountain, but threw too far and it hit the Christmas tree in the middle before falling into the fountain. I just LOVE this shot...

Naturally, they were not ready to leave and HAD to go in the Disney store before we left! I swear, Disney brings out the kid in every age. This is what I told the person working there when the girls were giggling and playing in the store like they were itty-bitty girls! It was cute

THIS is the "Mommy...will you buy it for me?!?!?" begging face. I did not buy it (only b/c Christmas and money is tight trying to pay off the little left on our trip!) but it was only $25! Disney STORE hoodies are way cheaper than AT Disney!

We had to leave because I had to get back to work, I think they would have stayed for hours more. We had such a great day, Savannah bought herself a few little things, her HIPSTER glasses were the cutest purchase!
I wonder if she'll wear them at Disney?!?!?

On the only other Disney-related note, Rey came home with BRAVE last night from Redbox! I was actually editing a photoshoot and when I realized what he had gotten, I had to sit down with them and watch it! How could I NOT watch BRAVE with Savannah for our first time seeing it! We loved it, I cried, naturally. LOVE Merida's hair...I wish Savannah would love her curly locks as much, but right now she just gets annoyed with them and wants her hair straight.

Ok, enough of the monster update! There should be at least 1 more update before Christmas, but I'm not promising! Today we have a Hot Chocolate party to go to, and then all the girls are coming back here to decorate cookies and spend the night! I really do love the holidays!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We're under 50 days now!!

I know these PTR's can get a little boring and I know there aren't many people reading, but I'm still going to update b/c I like talking to myself anyway.

The holidays are keeping us super busy, which is great for counting down b/c it's just FLYING! I'm pretty sure I will be paying off what's left on our balance tomorrow, but I won't count my hens until they are hatched, my clients have a way of forgetting to leave checks or canceling, so I can't depend on the money until it's actually in my hand. I will HAVE to pay it off in the next few days anyway though, I think I have until Saturday! EEK and WOOT all at the same time!

I have more pics to share of the last few days. We went to a Hot Chocolate party and then Savannah had all her friends over to decorate cookies. They ended up playing dress-up and dressing up like dolls. We had a lot of fun taking their pictures, they were having a blast!

The next few weeks are crazy for me, lots of clients going out of town (YAY for Christmas and Trip $$$!) but I'll probably only update when I've paid our balance and then be back here when the REAL planning fun starts in January!

Here are some pics from the other day:

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hey Karen --- I'm late to the party, but I'm here!!! Love the ptr so far! I've subbed now so I'll be patiently waiting for updates!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hey Karen --- I'm late to the party, but I'm here!!! Love the ptr so far! I've subbed now so I'll be patiently waiting for updates!!!

HI ANN!!! What's funny is that I have been talking to you in my TR, your TR, and your PTR, and I didn't even notice you hadn't subbed here! No wonder there weren't many responses!

 

[Tinker326]

I moved over too! LOOOVE the doll pictures- very clever indeed!

I feel very left out with no reports.......... I could do a post cruise report form last June or a pre-trip for Disney next fall...... I also like to talk to myself- so perhaps I will... ha!

P.S- how do you not get signifigant shadows on the white background with a flash? I can never achieve this well?

 

[Disney9.9.10]

What a great idea having the kids over to decorate cookies! It looks like they had a ton of fun! I hope that your clients pay you on time so that you can pay off your trip. My mom owns a daycare and has a lot of problems with people paying her...

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Little late to jump in, but better late then never I feel! We are going in January for our trip but it's just DH and myself because we are parentless (aside from two fur babies). Moving on...

I love your Pop party. We are also staying at Pop - our third time. I love this resort and fireworks from Epcot make it that much more of a special place. We have a preferred room which usually lands us in the building by the Tramp statue overlooking the pool.

In regards to your daughter's ear problems, I do have a few tips. I suffered from chronic ear infections and even flew to Disney one time with swimmer's ear when I was 13. I bawled the entire take off and landing (the landing part being the worst) Now that I'm 25 I still have occasional issues with pain management on flights, but the older you get the more of a simple annoyance it is rather than an unbearable pain. That being said, I tend to pack little mini hand warmer packs. I have yet to see TSA get angry for me having them in my carryon because they are so small. I take two and hold one each right behind my ears by the jawbone where it seems to hurt the most and the heat soothes it enough to get through take off and landing. Gum never really did much for me, but drinking water forced my ears to pop as unfortunate as that ended up being.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I moved over too! LOOOVE the doll pictures- very clever indeed!

I feel very left out with no reports.......... I could do a post cruise report form last June or a pre-trip for Disney next fall...... I also like to talk to myself- so perhaps I will... ha!

P.S- how do you not get signifigant shadows on the white background with a flash? I can never achieve this well?

Oh yes, yes! Do a report! Totally could do one for next fall, I have done them OVER a year in advance before...I'll probably start a 3 year pre-trip report after this b/c I won't have another trip planned!

I have a BOUNCE flash for my dslr, so that helps with the shadows. It doesn't flash directly at the subject, but at a wall or ceiling, so it just lights everything up. I also fix a lot of lighting issues in post editing.

What a great idea having the kids over to decorate cookies! It looks like they had a ton of fun! I hope that your clients pay you on time so that you can pay off your trip. My mom owns a daycare and has a lot of problems with people paying her...

They are usually pretty good about it b/c they are supposed to pay BEFORE services are rendered, but occasionally I have someone that forgets to leave a check. The worst is when they get sick or have something that causes them to cancel. I try not to think about the money until I actually start the petsit, but that's hard to do when I have something like a trip to pay off! It's less than $200 to pay off now, so I'm sure I'll get it paid!

Little late to jump in, but better late then never I feel! We are going in January for our trip but it's just DH and myself because we are parentless (aside from two fur babies). Moving on...

I love your Pop party. We are also staying at Pop - our third time. I love this resort and fireworks from Epcot make it that much more of a special place. We have a preferred room which usually lands us in the building by the Tramp statue overlooking the pool.

In regards to your daughter's ear problems, I do have a few tips. I suffered from chronic ear infections and even flew to Disney one time with swimmer's ear when I was 13. I bawled the entire take off and landing (the landing part being the worst) Now that I'm 25 I still have occasional issues with pain management on flights, but the older you get the more of a simple annoyance it is rather than an unbearable pain. That being said, I tend to pack little mini hand warmer packs. I have yet to see TSA get angry for me having them in my carryon because they are so small. I take two and hold one each right behind my ears by the jawbone where it seems to hurt the most and the heat soothes it enough to get through take off and landing. Gum never really did much for me, but drinking water forced my ears to pop as unfortunate as that ended up being.

Looking forward to reading more!

Never too late! We love PoP as well, it's like home for us. We had FABULOUS fireworks view this last January in the 50s section, facing the lake and AoA. Those were NOT preferred rooms, however, so now I'm forced to not have that great view and pay more? When I call to pay off my balance, I'll check to see if there are any non-preferred rooms opened up for my pin code, but I think they actually ONLY had preferred rooms for this pin...got them a little more money.

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Aww! Looking at pictures from when my kids were younger always chokes me up, too! The kids look so pretty all dressed up to go see the Nutcracker! (And, Hope, I can’t get over Ms. Kya in those HEELS! ) That must have been a really fun day! That is wonderful that you have such a great homeschool group. I still haven’t met with the one in my area because everything they do is on the weekdays. I think I will have to propose something for a Saturday because I really want my kids to form the friendships like Savannah has been able to do. Poor little kids who had never been to a mall! I was basically living at the mall when I was a teen, too! Yes, the fountain is fascinating! It’s not just kids from the country who think so! I dread passing a fountain because my kids always want to stop for a few minutes and make wishes on the pennies they throw in! When they start asking me for nickles and dimes, I tell them it’s time to go! Savannah’s pink hipster glasses are awesome! I hope she wears them to WDW! I’m so glad you saw Brave! I love that movie! Your Hot Chocolate Party looks really cool! You have inspired me to set up something similar for when my sisters come over for Christmas Eve! Well, good luck with the petsitting and I hope everything goes as planned with paying the trip off! Under 50 days!!!