Cora and Kit ~ 13 Weeks
Today you are 3 months old. Chubby and smiley, it is hard to believe your first day on this earth looked like this…
When we brought you home, we introduced you to Kit.
April 11, 2009 ~ 9 Days Old
At one month, we dressed you in longer clothes so you would look bigger.
May 2, 2009
At two months
June 2, 2009
Three months old today.
July 2, 2009
I’m Outta Here!
I’m leaving for vacation so if things are quiet around here, just think of how much fun I am having with my family!
Feel free to check out my new forum (and win a $25 gift card to Target) while I am gone. The Itch to Pitch will post on Monday, and I have some guest posts as well as a few in drafts so you’ll still be hearing from me, I just might not be able to respond. Now that I think about it, I am not so great about responding anyway…
Have a great 4th of July!
30 Days of Disney ~ Have Fun!
My 30 Days of Disney are up! I had a great time sharing my Disney tips with readers and loved reading about all your favorite Disney restaurants, attractions, and memories.
My final Disney tip is simple ~ Have Fun! Going to Disney can be a magical experience for the whole family, but it can also be a stressful one. Many times I have seen parents yelling at their exhausted children to hurry up, quit crying, or be happier. I understand their frustration, Disney vacations cost a good chunk of change and they want to get their money’s worth.
Relax, enjoy yourself, and don’t stress about riding every ride, meeting every character, and watching every show. If your kids are tired go back to the room and take a break. Most Florida hotels have nice pools, use them to cool off and break up your day. Add an extra day on to your vacation to give you a day of down time, where you don’t have to visit a park. It is okay to show up late and leave early, you will have great memories whether you spend five hours or 5 days at the parks.
So repeat after me:
I am going to Disney to have fun.
I am going to Disney to have fun.
I am going to Disney to have fun.
Have a great time at Disney and tell Mickey I said hello!
The magic doesn’t end today. I have started a Disney thread in my forum so stop by and share your knowledge with other Disney fans. Plus if you join in the discussion this week, or any other discussion in the forum you are entered to win a $25 Target gift card from The Blog Frog.
The Happy Housewife Community
I am so excited about some recent changes to the site. You might have noticed that I installed The Blog Frog widget to my side bar. The really fun thing about this widget is that it has created a forum for the site. This is a great way for readers to chat with each other, and it might help me better answer reader questions. I know many readers do not have blogs of their own, so this is a great way for them to voice their opinion on various topics.
I started the first thread with an easy question, Where is your favorite Thrift Store? All you need to do is click on the bottom of the widget and leave your answer in the thread.
You are welcome to start your own thread too.
And as an extra special bonus, for the next week anyone who starts a discussion (or replies to one) is automatically entered to win a $25 Target Gift Card. All you have to do is start your own discussion or reply to one, and The Blog Frog will take care of the rest. A great place to start is by introducing yourself. I introduced myself already, although you already know a lot about me, I couldn’t help but join in the discussion.
If you visit my community page you can read my twitter updates, visit my readers’ blogs, and participate in forum discussions.
30 Days of Disney ~ Questions Answered
Time to answer some of the questions I have received during this series.
From Mary Beth: I’d love to go and take our girls in the fall, but don’t know if they are really old enough… the oldest will be 4 in March and the three little ones won’t be 3 until August. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I think they are definitely old enough to enjoy Disney this fall. You can also take advantage of the Armed Forces Salute and save yourself a ton of money. If I were going with 4 children under 5, I might consider asking another adult to join you. That way you have another adult to ride with a child on many of the rides.
From Lori– Question…do you have a suggestion for sunscreen? I KNOW we’ll need it!
I would chose a high spf sunscreen that is waterproof. There are a few rides that you will get wet on in the park, plus if you go in the summer you will probably end up pretty sweaty by the end of the day. You could also consider putting your kids in swim shirts, since those keep their protection even if they get wet. My kids often wear their Skinz to Sea World so they can play in the water without worrying about a sunburn.
From Liz and Kellie- how do you nap at Disney?? Do you go back to your hotel or just pick a quiet spot in the grass???
If you have little ones and the park is open late (until 10 or 11pm) I would recommend going back to the room, or perhaps sending one parent back with the nappers and the other parent staying with the bigger kids. You can catch a quick nap on a bench, or (and I know I will get an email about this) take a nap while watching a show in an air-conditioned auditorium. I use to nap in the Hall of Presidents…
From Annette- Just curious if the active/retired service member has to be “present” to use the tickets at Disney?
No, they do have to purchase the tickets, but you do not need to be with them to actually get into the park. You must be with the service member during the ticket purchase.
From Tammy- Do you know if the Armed Forces salute tickets have to be used in consecutive days?
No, they just have to be used before December 23rd for the Orlando parks. I believe the deadline for California was extended until September.
Readers’ favorite Disney websites: Allears.net, Mousesavers.com and Tourguidemike.com
I’ve Been Betrayed…
My children are aware of this blog. Some of them love of the blog and you will see them in many of the pictures. My other kids aren’t as appreciative of my work here. They don’t seem to like photographing every moment of our life, trying new recipes, and often say things like, “Is this going to be on the blog???”
My older two children have blogs of their own. My daughter writes about her life without popcorn, and my son started his blog to write about falconry, but now uses it to show off his home movies.
And even though I try to write about and encourage my readers to eat healthier foods, my children aren’t always fond of our newer way of eating. This became clear to me when I was catching up on my son’s blog last night and came across this video. It seems that over the past few years he has photographed every piece of junk food that has come into our home, and has now made a movie about it!
Ahh, I can only hope that one day he will make movies about kefir smoothies and whole grain bread, but for now I am just happy he is learning some computer skills!
How about you? Have made changes in your lifestyle over the past few years? Are your kids willing participants or do they long for the ways of old? I think my kids are much happier with the frugal changes we have made, but are less than thrilled with the banning of Little Debbies in our home. 🙂
30 Days of Disney ~ Disney Magic
I have decided to end my 30 Days of Disney series with the posts I wrote several months ago when we were visiting the parks. I wrote a post per park, so tonight it is all about The Magic Kingdom.
There is something special about the Magic Kingdom, from the minute you walk under the railroad and on to Main Street a feeling of happiness comes over you. From the ice cream vendor to the monorail driver to Sleeping Beauty, each cast member goes out of their way to make your day magical.
Day 3 started early as we left the house at 7:45 am for the Magic Kingdom. We purchased our Armed Forces Salute tickets and were pleasantly surprised when they sold us all six tickets for $99 each. The promotion allows for five $99 tickets, but they sold us the sixth one for $99 too.
We arrived in the park a few minutes after nine. My first Disney tip is to get there early. The earlier you arrive, the less crowded the park. We were able to ride Snow White, Pooh, Teacups, and the Tomorrowland Speedway before 10 am.
We then headed to Toontown to visit the Princesses. If you want to see the fairies, get there right when it opens at 10 am before it opens. By the time we got there at 10:15 the line was already 60 minutes long. My girls were not interested in the fairies so we waited about 5 minutes to visit Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella.
Second Disney tip: Get a Fast Pass! This saved us so much time. We ended up getting fast passes for Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain (which is now under renovation), Thunder Mountain, and Peter Pan. The longest we waited with the fast pass was about 10 minutes, but the people without the fast past were waiting an hour.
Third Disney tip: Eat a huge breakfast before you get to the park and pack snacks and water. I am not sure what Disney’s food policy is, but we took some granola bars and cheerios for snacks in our backpack and when they checked it they didn’t say anything. Eating a large breakfast allows you to delay lunch. Lunchtime and parade times are the best time to go on rides.
We ate lunch at a place called the Harbor House. It is between Fantasyland and Liberty Square. It is one of the few places you can eat a semi-healthy lunch at the park. It is also less crowded than a lot of the more well known places and has ample seating. The kids had macaroni and cheese, apple slices and grapes. I had a tuna salad on wheat and it was as good as Panera. The total cost for our family of 8 was $50. Now I realize that is not cheap, but the kids ate fruit, drank milk (not soda) and everyone was full. We ate lunch late enough so that we didn’t have to eat dinner at the park, so I thought we got a good deal. On the park map is restaurant is listed as serving fish baskets and soups, but there is more to choose from on the menu. It is worth checking out.
About 7:30 pm we were all pretty tired so we decided to skip the fireworks (we can see them from my in-laws backyard anyway) and crowds and leave before the park closed at 8pm. This was a great idea for our family because we made it from Tomorrowland to our car in about 25 minutes.
We have Epcot and Animal Kingdom coming up next. We have only been to Animal Kingdom twice so I am excited to check it out.
Teacups
The Step Sisters and Mother
One of the step sisters went to go visit our son, who did not want to have his picture taken with her.
Tomorrowland Speedway- where you don’t need a license to drive.
Warming up to Cinderella
A family favorite- Buzz!
You are never too old for Mr. Lightyear….
Our relaxing lunch at the Harbor House, overlooking Thunder Mountain.
Where’s Jack Sparrow when you need him?
Magic Carpets (this ride was a favorite!)
Winding down on the carousel.
30 Days of Disney ~ Hollywood Studios
Our last day was spent at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I had pretty low expectations going into the day because I didn’t remember liking the park very much when we had our season passes years ago. After a full day at the park I was pleasantly surprised, they really had something for everyone.
We started the day by separating. The littler kids and I went to visit some characters while the big kids rode Tower of Terror and Rock’n Roller Coaster. I must tell you there are a ton of character greeting spots at the park and the lines are minimal.
The littlest Tower of Terror rider.
We then went to see the Playhouse Disney show. I chuckled while we were watching this show because my children have only seen these shows on television a handful of times but knew all the catchy phrases and songs. This is a fun show for the younger crowd.
There is also a character greeting outside of the theater.
We went to get fast passes for the Toy Story ride and on the way stopped to see Prince Caspian. As you can see our oldest was thrilled to meet him!
The “show” for Prince Caspien is a little lame, basically you watch a recap of the movie. I would skip it unless you are a die hard fan.
We spent some time at the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” playground. This is a fun area to let your kids burn off some energy. Be careful though, it had rained the day before and the flooring was very slippery.
Some time during the day we happened upon the Power Rangers. I don’t think my children have ever seen an episode of the Power Rangers, but they were loved posing with them. We probably spent 30 minutes going from Ranger to Ranger.
The kids were so excited about the Power Rangers that they spent the rest of the day practicing their moves.
We also saw Scully.
The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular was a family favorite since Dad was chosen to be an extra! This is really an awesome show, especially if you have little boys! They will love all the fire, guns, and action! After seeing several shows where people are chosen from the audience I think that you have a better chance of being picked if you are wearing bright colors and wave your hands like a madman!
Most of the family rode the Star Wars ride. It got mixed reviews from the kids.
We had lunch at a great place called the Studio Catering Company. It is close to the playground. They had great food for a small price (well, a small price for Disney). They actually had healthy choices on the menu. My husband had chicken with beans and rice, I had a chicken ceasar wrap, and the kids had macaroni with grapes and carrots. It was $50 for all 8 of use to eat.
After lunch we rode the most popular ride the in park, Toy Story Midway Mania! This is a cool ride! Everyone loved it, but if you want to love it like we did, get a fast pass. The line was about 50 minutes on a slow day at the park.
My only regret of the day was trying to see the block party. Even though we had good seats, the block party actually was very difficult to see. Not to mention people pushing their way in front of the kids to get a better view for themselves. My advice, skip the block party and go see a show. You won’t be missing anything.
We had great seats for the Beauty and the Beast show… front row!
Even though they were tired, my girls loved this show, and there is enough of Gaston and the Beast to keep little boys attention too.
We visited The Magic of Disney Animation in order to find Mr. Incredible. If you don’t want to go on the tour you can enter the gift shop, go all the way to the back and follow the hallways to the characters. (Note: you can now visit the characters from UP at this location)
We also saw the Little Mermaid show as well as went on the Great Movie Ride. The Mermaid show is great and the Movie Ride was interesting, although could scare little kids.
We left the park a little before closing time. We had a fabulous day, the kids loved all the kids and shows and the park was not too crowded. I highly recommend this park as one your whole family will love!
Money, Moving, and Musings…
For those you who are just checking in, I am moving. We are not transferring, just moving off base into a rental home. Now usually I counsel military families to take advantage of base housing, so why am I not taking my own advice? Here are the reasons (in order of importance) we decided to move off base.
1. We wanted to live closer to friends and church. Almost all of our friends live off base, about 30 minutes away. Many times we say no to activities because we don’t want to deal with the traffic or the drive. Moving to a different city will help us stay better connected to our church family.
2. We pay a whole lot of money, for not a whole lot of house. We currently live in a 5 bedroom townhome. Even though it is 5 bedrooms it is not a “big” house. I estimate it is between 1700-1800 square feet. We do not have a yard. There is almost no storage in this house. While it is possible to make it work in this house, if there is an alternative, why spend time and money constantly coming up with creative ideas so we can “fit” into our current house.
3. I am tired of dealing with the company that manages the housing on base. Over the past eighteen months we have dealt with a company that refused to let our family use the community pool (too many kids). Failed to provide written copies of many of its so called “policies.” Failed to fix our appliances in a timely manner; oven broken for a month, fridge still making funny noises (going on two months), broken microwave for over a month, etc… I feel like every day I have to put on my gloves in order to prepare for my fight with the housing office in order to get things repaired or to be able to enjoy the same amenities that everyone else enjoys on base.
4. Since we are now being billed for utilities, living on base is not always the “cheapest” option.
Since last December we have been praying about our housing situation. I felt strongly that we needed to move into this one particular neighborhood, but I also didn’t think we should buy a house since we didn’t have a sizable enough down payment. I checked for rentals, but I hadn’t seen any for this neighborhood until last Friday night.
We called the number and come to find out the house I found is owned by a friend of a friend. We saw the house on Saturday and fell in love. It has everything I could have ever dreamed of in a house including a large lot on a cul-de-sac, and a finished basement! It was even in our price range! Before I got too carried away with the house I did the math and found out that renting this house could potentially cost us about $100 more a month during the hottest summer or coldest winter.
After we had the facts we discussed whether the off-base house was worth $100 a month. We decided that since we had room in our budget we could afford to pay a little more in order to get significantly more.
Everything fell into place so perfectly, I am thankful we waited on God’s timing instead of relying on our own timing.
I cannot tell you how excited I am about moving off base. I have one neighbor who I will really miss, but she is moving soon too, so I would be missing her anyway!
For now I am busy driving around the base looking for free boxes. So far we have spent $16 on packing tape, but we have found boxes and packing paper galore since this is moving season for the military. I am hoping to keep the move costs under $200. We are renting a large truck so we can do the move in one day, and that will be our biggest expense. I must say that the military community is great for helping each other out. Just today I had a lady knock on my door and ask if I would like her boxes. She noticed that my porch was covered in boxes and assumed I was moving out.
Even though we are moving to a larger home, I am still feeling the Itch to Pitch. Everything I can pass along, is one more thing I don’t have to pack up and load on the truck!
To the reader who asked if we will still be able to live on half our income if we move off base; I haven’t done a full calculation, but we should be able to maintain our savings goals in the new house. Once we move in I’ll redo the budget and post an update.
So, if I am a little scarce over the next few weeks it’s because I’m packing and pitching! Pictures coming soon.