Wedding Week - Take 2

The time has arrived -- again -- for us to travel home for my sister's wedding.

Carrianna and Eric are getting married next Saturday.

We are so excited and have many fun events scheduled for the week. My sister Kate was married in April and it was a fantastic week. Now it's my little sis' turn.

I must say it makes me feel a little old. She has always been my "little sister" and I can barely believe she is old enough for this milestone. But she is....which makes me even older.

I realized that I did not get ONE picture of Kate and her husband at the wedding. Really terrible. So I am now sharing a few that the pro took.







I'll try to do better at Carrianna's wedding.

Our schedule this week includes a bridal shower, lingerie shower, bridesmaids luncheon, rehearsal, and then the big day.

Kate and I are throwing her lingerie shower on Thursday night. Those are always fun! ... We have lots of fun planned for the evening, and I promise to share what I can. =) [trying to make Carrianna nervous...]

Here are the invites. I ordered them from here and they were wonderful to work with!

(I had to blur out our personal info just in case anyone was tempted to join us for the evening. =)

We are excited to add another to the family!

Totally Random

I realized several other bloggers are having "Random" posts, so maybe this is a common summer experience. But there are so many random things in my head today. So here goes.

First, to answer a few questions about our Disney Trip.
We did the Pricess character dinner at the Grand Floridian Hotel. The characters were perfect -- where do they find these people? And the location was gorgeous which allowed for a fun time exploring after the dinner was over.

I don't have many Disney tidbits of advice since we spent a grand total of 5 hours there! But from my experience, here are a few tips.

-1- Under no circumstances should you go in June. Or July. Or probably August. If the temperature is over 90, I would suggest you should just go to Target and browse through the Princess toy aisle. This will be much more enjoyable. And much cheaper. (That said, I do realize that the week we were in Orlando was extremely hot and not necessarily the typical June day.)

-2- There are many great "stroller parking lots" throughout Magic Kingdom which make it easy to stroll when you need to and let the kids roam when it's convenient.

Big tip: when you park your stroller, make sure that it is facing AWAY from the direct sunlight. Otherwise, when you return, your kids will be unable to get back in the stroller for an hour or two. Of course, this again relates to the 99 degree sunshine we were experiencing. Better tip: See #1.

-3- If it is your first trip to Disney, make sure and go to the Welcome Center to get everyone an official "First Visit" pin. These make a cute souvenir and are free!

-4- Go see the 4-D movie. I assume the exact feature changes, but it was tons of fun and we all enjoyed it.

-5- You must see the afternoon parade. As I mentioned in my earlier post, we did NO advanced planning. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. But, fortunately, we were near the castle getting our picture taken when the park photographer just broke into a choreographed dance. Hmmm... (I think he was secretly hoping to move up some day and become Goofy or a Prince. He had the whole thing memorized and was great!) Then I began to hear the music getting louder and the parade was just beginning. We hurried over to Main Street for an awesome and magical parade of all the Disney characters. I cannot vouch for the evening parade though I have heard it is fantastic too.

-6- There are 2 unbelievable outlet malls nearby. Definitely take some time to visit them.

I still consider myself a Disney novice and hope we can make another trip there when the kids are older...and in February.

Second, when I returned from vacation, I went on a diet.

Yuk. I hate to even write that word. I don't do diets very often. I rarely keep up with my weight and am pretty content to just do things in moderation. But we had been on vacation for over 10 days. I felt yuk and exhausted. I was even getting sick of Chick-fil-A. (I know... blasphemous...) But I decided that I needed to take control of things and my only goal was to feel better.

So... I did it. I gave up sugar and white flour. (I know....blasphemous again.) I did this years ago in law school and it worked really well for me. And I felt pretty challenged by it. I am a southern girl who loves her carbs. I put sugar in my coffee, enjoy pasta and pancakes, and need a bread with every meal. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it... and to see if it really made a difference.

My first step was to cut out the sugar from my coffee. This was probably the hardest thing. I really enjoy my sweet cup..cups... of coffee in the morning. But I knew this would evidence my total committment to this lifestyle. I have actually gotten used to the coffee and enjoy it now. It hasn't been too difficult as there are so many whole grain options out there.

But I must tell you that I can tell a TREMENDOUS difference. I have so much more energy throughout the day. And my body has changed completely. (at least to me...nobody else would probably notice). But I have accomplished my goal. I feel so much better.

I won't say that I will never have another grain of sugar or that I haven't taken a bite of my daughter's Orea cakesters that she snuck into the grocery cart. But I have mostly eliminated sugar and white flour from my diet. And I feel good. To each her own.

Third, this new purchase has led to some fun mornings (not afternoons because it is blazingly hot here) and some funny pictures.

Why do kids love to be naked?

I hope you are having an exciting and random summer too!

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Now back to your originally scheduled broadcast...

Just a few ...

I have maintained Project 52 so far and can't believe how much these monkeys have grown in the past 6 months. Last week's is one of my favorites.

Our first...

We were in NY for the 4th spending time with my husband's family. The weather was gorgeous, and we had a great time.

The only thing the kids can do in our driveway is this...

But in Grandma and Grandpa's paved driveway, Eveley learned to do this.

Hope yall had a Happy Fourth!

Summer Vacation 2010 - Part 3 {Real Life Fairytale}

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to convince Eveley that fairytales are just pretend.

She hugged Cinderella.

She was introduced to Prince Charming ... although he made her very shy.

She met the Wicked Stepmother

And she danced with the stepsisters.

All while nibbling some goodies from a Mickey Mouse-shaped plate.

In the lobby of the hotel, they had a large orchestra playing all of the Disney hits. Eveley couldn't help but burst into a dance. I almost joined her.

It was a magical evening.

Then the clock struck 7, and Caleb ran out to find some dirt.

Summer Vacation 2010 - Part 2 {Disney}

I have never been before. Nope. Never. Not even as a little bitty girl.

No one can believe me, but it's the truth.

I have friends who went there on their honeymoon, those who plan vacations there each year, and some who even try to control their reproduction timing to ensure the trip there isn't inconvenienced.

Then, there are those moms. You know who I'm talking about. Those moms who research this destination for months in advance. They chart out the park, use different colored highlighters to mark their daily schedule, and buy fast passes off Ebay. The kids are briefed, the mom survival bag is packed, and they march into this place as if it's paradise waiting to be explored.

When I realized we would be staying so close to Disney while on vacation, I knew we had to work in a visit. Our kids are definitely not the "perfect" age for a Disney vacation. They are still young and unpredictable. But they both are fans of Mickey's Playhouse and all the Disney characters. And Eveley is totally in the princess stage. So we decided to go for it.

Given my uber-organized style, you may assume I would fall into that latter category of moms. But you would be wrong. We decided to go on a Monday hoping to avoid the weekend crowds. I coated the children in sunscreen, dressed them in cool, comfortable clothes and shoes, brought hats, a small cooler of juice boxes and snacks, and we were off.

We bought our tickets at the park, rented our $30 stroller, grabbed a map at the welcome center, and began to explore.

But it was hot. I mean really hot. Central Florida saw a week of record high temperatures and Monday was the hottest. It was in the high 90s with 100% humidity. There was absolutely no cloud cover or shade. The sun was boiling.

But when we walked into the Magic Kingdom and Eveley saw the castle, we knew it was worth the sweat and the hundreds of dollars we had just paid.

She was in heaven.

We hit the famous "It's a Small World" ride first (because there was no line and it was an indoor, air-conditioned ride).

The kids loved it. Then we walked back outside into the horrible heat, just long enough for a kind woman to hand us a "fast pass" to the 3D Mickey movie that was just getting ready to begin. I still had no idea what a fast pass was. She was a saint.

We walked right into the theater and loved the show (and the a/c). Then we rode the Carousel and took the train around the park. Eveley was excited to see Mary Poppins (or Mary Ann Poppins, as Eveley calls her??)

The kids had fun in Mickey's land where they got to tour his house.

Uhh.... take 2

After a potty break, it was 11:30 and everyone was on the verge of a breakdown....or meltdown.

Quick thinking, and a few suckers later, the kids were content. The sucker was definitely worth the $15 we spent on it.

I was beginning to lose hope that this would be a pleasant experience. It was just miserable. And then we heard the music. Without any purposeful planning, we had ended up on Main Street just as the huge parade was beginning. It was awesome! (I mean the kids thought it was awesome...) We saw all of our favorite Disney characters and tons of great dancers. It really was kinda magical.

As the parade wrapped up, the princess show outside the castle began. They had each of the famous couples from the Disney classics (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) along with Mickey and Minnie. There were tons of people crowding the street to see the show. But Eveley didn't care. She danced right there in the middle of them. I think she thought she was part of the show. So cute. And this stage will be gone very soon, I'm sure.

The show ended in fireworks, and we decided that was all we needed to see. It was 1:30. We took the train and headed back to our car.

We were just pulling out of the parking lot here.

We were so hot!! But Eveley had the time of her life and will never forget her first trip to Disney. (And I will never forget my first trip to Disney either...)