Disneyland February 2013

The end of January and very beginning of February is my favorite time of year to go to Disneyland.  So, when we went to Southern California for my brother's wedding, we had to take some time at the park.  It was also super lucky that some of our best friends were planning on being there at the exact same time!  We loved being in one of our favorite places with some of our favorite people!

Some special things on the trip were: a wonderful Annual Passholder special event of the 50th anniversary show at the Golden Horseshoe Revue; the premiere seating (that came with the dinner) for World of Color; a few nights with the special "Magic Morning" hours that came from staying at the Grand California Hotel; everyone being tall enough to ride most of the rollercoasters together.

As usual, the family time was magical and rejuvenating!  Can I say that we love the newly renovated DCA?  The twenties vibe (music in the video reflects that), the fun "characters", the new shows, are all just amazing!  It's only been a month, and I'm getting asked almost daily when we'll be going back.  I want to go to DisneyWorld, but we can go to Disneyland in CA 3 times for the cost of one trip to Florida, so I just don't know...

These are a few of my favorite things!

It seems silly to dedicate a whole post to my favorite little things we've done/purchased lately.  So I'm cramming them all into one.

Basement Decor
I finally put up more fun and kid friendly art in the basement.  It started with the awesome Leonard Parkin Print my folks framed for us for Christmas this year - pictured below with the orange mat over the table.  I've been wanting it near the swings since we put up the swings.

The Parkin was too nice to be in the "impact zone".  So, I ordered some amazing posters from the ALA store with some of our favorite books.  We framed them in cheap frames with plexi instead of glass and hung those on the wall with 3M strips.  They have survived impact beautifully!

While searching for the posters, I came across nicer book art.  I couldn't help myself and I bought two.  The bear print is from our current favorite read aloud book "I Want My Hat Back."  The other print in the green mat is from another favorite book (bedtime choice) "A Sick Day for Amos McGee" and actually came from the artist herself.  I was so excited when I received it! This makes me even more anxious to meet her in person at the BFYR conference this summer.

I love how the basement turned out!  It is so much more fun and friendly down there.  I've noticed the girls spending a lot more time downstairs now that it is decorated.

Kitchen Gizmo
Have you ever heard of an instant hot water dispenser?  Neither had I, but when I saw one at a friend's house, I had to have one.  We bought ours from Amazon and installed it.  It's been heaven.  Water for hot drinks daily (Eliza's hot chocolate and my tea).  It disinfects everything like toothbrushes, and medicine syringes while we've been sick.  Water for pasta boils on the stove after only 2 minutes.  It's taken up the unused soap dispenser spot at the kitchen sink and it is in constant use.  I love it!!

Pencil Sharpener
Is it ridiculous to rave about a pencil sharpener?  Probably.  I read this post by a teacher friend, then bought one for us and one for each of the girls teachers.  All the pencils in my house are now perfectly sharp!  My turn to rave about a pencil sharpener: it's amazing!

Jason's Rings
It was time to update Jason's wedding ring.  It just didn't fit well any more and couldn't be sized.  (We got mine re-sized.)  So, we bought him two new ones.  One has wood in it and he wears it occasionally.  The other has a diamond in it and is so cool!  He wears it all the time!

Waffles
I am addicted to the waffle truck.  I crave it daily.  Fortunately, the girls share my craving.  When they all brought home straight A's, they picked the waffle truck as their prize.  I think it is time to learn how to make liege waffles for myself.

Other People's Babies
Many of our friends are having babies.  We are loving getting to hold and snuggle them!

Children's Picture Books
I mentioned a few of our current favorites above.  We also love the Elephant and Piggie books, Sara reads them by herself and with me.  Our other current favorites are "A Trip to the Bottom of the World with Mouse", "Sleep Like a Tiger", "A Home for Bird", "Extra Yarn", and "Balloons Over Broadway."

Valentine's Day 2013

Valentine's day was so busy! We didn't have time for our traditional fondue because of lessons and play practices and Eliza having the 24 stomach flu. However, there still was some fun. We made our first Valentine box this year for Laura. Thank heavens for Pinterest and the silhouette paper dolls. Laura loved it and won a prize for it.

All of the girls wore the "heart hairdo" this year and dressed for the day. Sisters went to school and delivered Valentines with Ring Pops.

They also got their baskets from us. The baskets had little trinkets (a chocolate scented stuffed bear, yummy chocolates, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) but those brought out big smiles!

I went to Steph's Valentine Exchange and swapped retractable measuring tapes. I also adjusted those and we gave them to the girls' teachers. Jason and I got each other a new TV for the bedroom.

It was a good Valentine's day!